Mad World
by Rakunya
Summary: A fusion of worlds that none know the cause of created a new world order. As that order falls into chaos, a new hero rises up to aid the legendary warriors is battle, but how can he help when he doesn't know who he is?
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

"To each his own," the old saying went, and certainly each did have their own. Cloud had his Sephiroth, Squall his Ultemicia, and Zidane his Kuja. However, each was not as alone as they seemed do be. A great force linked them, the very force that allowed for the compression of time.

Time compression was not, as Odine had first guessed, the true will of Ultimecia. Rather, it was an experiment created by her master that only she was capable of doing. As the experiment was successful, her death was not wasted. Rather, as time seperated, the worlds became one. Three worlds literally collided, each fusing together to create a new world.

Yet, in what seemed like no time at all, adjustments were made, and the new world became suitable, almost fitting. SOLDIER took its place as the greatest warriors of the new world, ready to fight whenever the need arose, and they were master Materia users. SeeD became known as the world's mercenary force, one that was highly sought after, as they were able to use magic and summons without the use of Materia. Similar reasons brought the Black Mages to fame.

In all of the excitement of making the new world work, however, no one even suspected that this was part of a much larger plan until the worlds had begun working in harmony with each other.

**Chapter 1**

Squall looked out over the rising gunblade specialists, each practicing with a partner at the moment, waiting for the class to end. He took particular notice of an 'enthusiastic' young student, Rakunya. While Rakunya's face showed no sign of it, Squall knew that he desired nothing more than to become the next gunblade specialist, and at the rate he was going, he was likely to succeed. He had more determination in this field than anything Squall had ever seen before.

Rakunya would, perhaps, already be a gunblade specialist, but he was unable to take the SeeD test with his apparent weapon of choice. At the time, Squall, Rakunya's advisor, had encouraged his original line of thought, and as such, Rakunya performed two SeeD tests, one right after the other, specializing him in both shotguns and katanas. At first, Squall assumed that the gunblade was simply the next logical choice. In time, however, it became apparent that Rakunya had wanted the gunblade from the beginning.

Squall looked at his pupil with a hint of fondness. He was reminded so much of himself when he spoke with the boy that it was uncanny, although Squall didn't remember having his fingers in so many pots. Rakunya seemed connected to people all throughout the world, and while that seemed like a good thing in this now merged world, it made Squall uneasy. The taste of power could always corrupt his 'pupil', and he didn't want that to happen. They had indeed become good friends, and losing any of his friends…

His train of thought was interrupted by the noise of several surprised students and Rakunya rushing to his desk. "Squall…I mean, Professor Leonhart," Rakunya said hurriedly. His face was no longer emotionless; rather, it now held an expression of fear, amazement, and eagerness. Some may have found it comical.

"What's going on, Rakunya?" Squall said calmly, despite the fact that he realized that some danger was certainly approaching. Had it been something trivial, Rakunya probably wouldn't have mentioned it at all.

"There's an attack on the Garden, sir!" he said just as quickly as before.

"What?" Squall was in shock.

"That's the trouble, sir. I'm not sure what exactly it is. I've Scanned it already for you…does the name Jenova mean anything to you?"

Squall shook his head. "Not a thing," he admitted. "Are you sure that you've never seen this thing before? It's not just an ordinary monster?"

"I've never seen anything like it," he reassured Squall. "It's…I can't even begin to describe it. It's deformed, whatever it is, much like the zombie Gerogero…but Scan doesn't mention it being a zombie."

Squall nodded. "You want to be a gunblade specialist, right?"

"Sir, is this the most appropriate…"

"Your test," Squall continued just as nonchalantly, "is to do battle with this Jenova."

"Are you sure?"

"You are my only pupil that is ready, Rakunya. Go and fight with Jenova. Your ultimate goal is destroy it, but I don't expect you to be able to do it alone. I'll send reinforcements shortly, but there's no telling just how long it will take for them to arrive. Good luck."

Rakunya didn't need to be told twice. He rushed out of the Garden and drew his gunblade, though when he saw the deformed beast, he began to wish he'd brought his katana set. This Jenova loomed above him like nothing he'd ever seen before. It was at least as menacing as a T-Rexaur, and no shorter than an Iron Giant. He questioned his ability to defeat it, but he knew that Squall was counting on him.

Unfortunately, it seemed as though Jenova was expecting retaliation. The moment he arrived on the scene, it fired a very powerful laser at him. He knew that there was indeed little he could do to stop it, so, thinking fast, he fired a quick Fira spell at the beast. This did little to it, however, and the beast hardly seemed shaken. He tried the use of his gunblade, but this creature was holding up well to his physical attacks. _I've relied on magic for too long,_ he thought. _No wonder my physical attacks are worthless._

Fortunately, his first reinforcement showed up, and he was quite surprised to see how powerful of an ally he was sent. Selphie, to his surprise, was also not able to hurt it much with her physical attacks, and she too was greeted with a laser. "This is insane!" she said. "What was Squall thinking when he made this your test? He should be out here fighting!"

An idea suddenly struck him. "Selphie! Cast Wall!"

"What's the point?" she asked. "It's not attacking much!"

"Trust me! This was Squall's test for me, and now I know why!"

She did as he asked, and Rakunya pointed his gunblade at Jenova. "This ends," he said. He could see the energy from Selphie's Wall spell focus around the tip. He leapt into the air and, squeezing the trigger, slashed at Jenova. The result was amazing; all of the protective energy from the Wall spell was thrust at Jenova in a great destructive blast. Jenova disappeared.

Selphie stared at him in awe as he landed on the ground. "How did you do that?" she managed.

"I've been taken Limit classes from Midgar, remember? That's one of my newest additions; I can take any protective or curative magic and turn it against my enemies…it only seems to work with a gunblade."

"If you can use curative magic…"

"I'm fresh out of Cura, and I couldn't draw anything from Jenova."

Selphie patted him on the back. "Well, congratulations on your next endorsement! Oh, and don't feel bad about not being able to draw anything, I couldn't either. I couldn't even tell what kind of magic it had."

"Squall should've sent Irvine, he'd have known."

"Squall knew better than to send Irvine," Selphie said fiercely. She turned away, tears coming to her eyes.

"I see," Rakunya said. "Another big fight?"

Selphie shook her head. She stood there for a moment, then ran over and hugged Rakunya tightly, sobbing. "We broke up," she cried.

"Poor Selphie," he said, hugging her back. He knew how much Irvine had meant to her and how hard this break up was going to be. "What happened?"

She let go and wiped the tears away. "Don't worry about it," she said, trying hard to sound happy again. "It's nothing."

"Are you sure?" he asked, hurt that she didn't trust him. "I'm here if you need someone to talk to."

"I know, I know," she said. "Maybe some other time, though. I'd better go let Squall know how things went. Bye!" She waved at him, then rushed off.

"Bye," he said quietly, waving back.

So much was happening that wasn't right. The worlds had merged, Selphie and Irvine broke up, and now Jenova shows up outside of Balamb Garden? What was going on? This latest fiasco seemed as impossible as the first. After all, Jenova had only been recorded once as having shown up without Sephiroth's presence. Had he been at the Garden?

He reached up and grabbed the hand that was hovering near his hidden bangle. "You can't get to it," he said. "It's beneath my SeeD uniform."

"What do you need SeeD training for, anyway?" he was asked.

He turned around and smiled at his good friend Yuffie. "Only SeeD uses gunblades, and those happen to be my weapon of choice. How long have you been here?"

"Long enough to see you beat Jenova," she said. "Cloud was right, your new Limit Break is quite impressive." She moved up next to him, then gave him an odd look. "How do you balance all of your duties? SeeD, AVALANCHE, your feelings for Selphie…"

"Selphie and I are friends, nothing more," he assured her.

"Yeah, right," Yuffie laughed. "And I wasn't just trying to steal your Materia."

"You weren't," he said, a smirk on his face. "You were trying to hold my hand."

"What?"

"Yeah," he continued. "That's why you picked up on my conversation with Selphie. You're _jealous_!"

"No way!" she said. "You're twisting my words!"

"I know," he laughed. "It's a lot of fun."

She hit him playfully on the arm. "Hey, do I ever even get to _see_ your Materia?"

He laughed. "All right, I'll show you."

He pulled up the sleeve of his SeeD uniform and revealed a bangle of sorts; Yuffie wasn't quite sure of the type and suspected that it may have been issued to him by SeeD and modified for Materia. One piece in particular caught her eye, and as good of friends as they were, she couldn't resist reaching for it.

"You like it?" he asked, indicating the shiny red Materia. "It's a one of a kind. Nobody else seems to be able to use it. Care to see what it does?"

Yuffie nodded as if in a daze.

Cloud took another sip of his coffee. "I don't have all day, Squall. Yes, it was tragic that your Garden was attacked, but what am I supposed to do about it?"

"Nothing," Squall said. "I was just hoping that you knew something about the creature that attacked us. Its name was Jenova…does that mean anything to you?"

Cloud almost dropped his coffee in surprise. The beauty of the town of Balamb seemed somehow diminished by this revelation. "Jenova?" he whispered.

"Then perhaps you could fill us in on some details?"

Cloud set down his coffee mug and leaned slightly forward. He knew that the residents of Balamb were unfamiliar with Jenova, but he still wanted to air on the safe side of caution. "Are you sure?"

"Quite. We scanned the beast the moment it was spotted. We've also received reports of one appearing in Wutai and Alexandria."

Cloud leaned back, taken aback by the news. One Jenova had been bad enough, but three? "Excuse me a brief moment, Squall."

He stood up and went to the street just outside the coffee shop. How could Jenova have appeared? Why did it appear here, in this beautiful landscape? What business did it have attacking Garden?

He transmitted a message to Cid, telling him to check out the Wutai area for any signs of 'unusual activity'. He refused to say Jenova just yet, not until he knew for sure.

He went back in and sat down across from Squall. "What would you like to know?"

"I'd like something to go off of," he said honestly. "What is it and why was it after Garden?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer your second question," Cloud told him. "As for the first…

"Jenova is a being that is well over 2000 years old. It was originally believed to be an Ancient, but we later discovered that Jenova was what caused their death. A former Shinra scientist, Hojo, used cells from Jenova in experiments. One such experiment produced Sephiroth, whom I've already told you about." Cloud neglected to mention that he, too, was an experiment.

"Then…Sephiroth is alive?"

Cloud shook his head. "That's impossible. We killed him. Of course, I thought that Jenova was dead, too." Cloud shook his head. "No, I'm sure Sephiroth is dead. Is there anything else, because if not, I have a political meeting with your father."

Squall raised an eyebrow. "The head of a terrorist group meeting with the president of Esthar?"

"Yes," Cloud said, standing up. "It would seem that Esthar and the Shinra are on the verge of war…again. I'm going to see how much he has to do with it and try to work out peaceful negotiations."

"Good luck," Squall said, shaking Cloud's hand. "And thank you for your help."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Hello, all. Meant to post one of these for chapter one, but oh well. 7, 8, 9 crossover, hope you enjoy. I apologize for the first 4 chapters, I promise that the writing gets better as you go on. Reviews needed.**  
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**Chapter 2**

Vivi cast Meteor again, and once more the creature survived.

"Can't this thing be killed?" Zidane asked, exasperated.

Steiner unleashed yet another Stock Break, and Beatrix did the same. "This is insane!" she said. "There must be some way to kill it!"

"There is," said a familiar voice.

As Jenova disappeared in a flash of Ultima, Kuja landed in front of Zidane. "Hello again, brother."

"Kuja?" Vivi said. "You're…alive?"

"There's no way!" Eiko shouted. "You're dead! We killed you when you tried to break the crystal!"

Freya poked his chest with her lance. "Get out of here," she threatened. "Or I'll have to kill you…again."

Kuja smiled. "I see why Alexandria is known for its hospitality." Freya snarled.

"How?" Zidane asked. "How are you alive?"

"I hadn't quite died when you left me alone in the Iifa Tree," he explained, pushing Freya's lance away. "I managed to escape, though barely. I've been spending my time recovering in my underground castle, watching as the worlds fused into this magnificent creation. Who would have thought that three worlds so different could have existed so harmoniously!"

"Why show up now?" Garnet asked, clinging closely to Zidane out of fear.

"What time seemed better? Now that Jenova is on the loose, it seemed appropriate for me to offer my services to the new world, perhaps even redeem myself for my past actions."

"We…you just killed Jenova," Amarant pointed out. "Why do we need your help now?"

"Jenova's gone, is it? Then I suppose the other two spotted around the world were just hallucinations, right?"

"Others?" Eiko asked him. Fear was beginning to overtake her original arrogance and hatred.

"Two others have been seen thus far, both identical to the one that I just destroyed. In other words, this was not Jenova itself, but merely a weaker form placed here to attack and possibly destroy Alexandria."

"But who or what is Jenova?" Steiner demanded. "And what does it have against Alexandria?"

"It's impossible to say precisely what it is, though from what I've gathered it is closely related to the city of Midgar. Perhaps, if someone shall accompany me, we can acquire our answers from the source?"

"I'll go," Zidane said after a long pause.

"Not alone you won't!" Garnet and Eiko shouted simultaneously.

Zidane laughed. "Alright, the four of us will head out for Midgar. Vivi, go to the Black Mage Village, see if Mikoto knows anything. Beatrix and Rusty, you two take care of Alexandria. Freya…why don't you try to find Dr. Tot? He might know something. Amarant…Nah. You wouldn't listen anyway."

"The President will see you now," the receptionist said kindly.

"Thank you." Cloud walked into the office and, before being asked, took a seat opposite Laguna. "We need to talk, Mr. Loire."

Laguna laughed. "Always business with you, eh, Mr. Strife? What brings you out my way?"

"Sadly, it's war rumors again. Rufus is talking about starting a war with Esthar."

"On what grounds?" Laguna demanded.

"Claims Esthar's been making attacks on Midgar. He found Esthar weapons and everything. And let's face it, the whole world knows that you and Rufus aren't on good terms…"

"Yes, but I'd never start a war!"

"Not even for the Materia Mines?" Cloud asked, raising an eyebrow.

Laguna sighed. "You know me better than that, Mr. Strife. As much good as the Materia Mines would be to Esthar, I would never think of starting a war! If anyone starts anything, it'll be that war mongering Rufus Shinra!"

"But why would Rufus start a war?" Cloud pointed out. "As far as the world is concerned, Rufus has the better footing right now. You have motive while he seems to have none."

"Now surely you don't believe that!"

Cloud leaned in. "On a professional level, I have to, Mr. Loire. It's my job to see things as the world will see them." He hesitated slightly. "But on a personal level…and this is strictly off the records, right, Laguna?"

"Completely, Cloud."

"Shinra has been known to search for weapons when there wasn't a war. A good friend of mine tells me that there's been a lot of talk in the Shinra Corporation about a Pandora's Box. Do you know anything?"

Laguna shuddered. "Not Pandora's Box…but they might be talking about Lunatic Pandora…I thought I saw Turks around there!"

"A weapon of Esthar's?"

"An ancient weapon that I order to be reburied, and that's all that I'll say about it, so please don't ask any more."

Cloud nodded. "I'll respect your privacy, just don't expect the same courtesy from Rufus. Have a nice day, Mr. Loire."

He started to leave, but suddenly Laguna shouted after him. "Mr. Strife!" There was a pause as Cloud stopped moving. "If you have any proof that my theory is true…then tell Rufus that I'll let him research it if he lets my people use the mines."

Cloud nodded, then left.

"Then everything is going to plan?"

"If Kuja's betrayal was part of your plan, sir."

The master looked and his servant. "It doesn't betray the plan, especially so long as he believes that he survived from the Iifa Tree. If he begins to remember his encounter with us, then things shall not bode well. By then, however, it is hoped that we shall indeed have worked all of them together."

"It would seem, sir, like they would be easier to kill if they were all alone."

"You are naïve. There is a reason that I am the master and you are the servant. Do as I say and all shall go well. Have all three Jenova-BIRTHs been destroyed?"

"Yes sir, with no other casualties, as you planned."

"Excellent. I think it is time for me to begin the next part of my plan."

Rakunya woke up and sighed. It was indeed a lovely night under the Balamb stars, even with the extra moon in the sky. He looked over at Yuffie. It seemed like they had both fallen asleep under the stars. He looked at his watch, curious of the time, and was relieved to see that they had only been like this for an hour or so.

He laid there with her head resting gently on his shoulder, wondering if he should wake her up. A part of him knew that he should return to Garden, but a greater part of him wanted to enjoy the moment. He never wanted this moment to end, and he would have given anything for the sun to stay set.

He again looked at Yuffie, who was still sleeping quite peacefully. _When did this happen?_ he thought. _When did I get feelings for you? Is this situation getting to my head? Or…have I really started to care for you?_ He shook his head. _Get over yourself, Rakunya. You can't have feelings for her right now…_

Slowly but surely, she woke up. "I see you're awake," Rakunya said with a smile.

Yuffie blinked at him, then sat straight up. "Oh my God," she said. "I can't believe I fell asleep! Where are we?"

"Still outside of Balamb," he assured her. "Don't worry, we've only been asleep for about an hour. It's not that late yet."

"I have to go," she said suddenly. "Goodbye!"

"Bye!" he called after her, but she didn't hear him. She was running as fast as she could to the other end of the island, to her residence just outside of Fire Cavern, where she had decided to stay while looking for Materia. She hadn't intended on staying as long as she had, but for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to say goodbye to Rakunya.

She shuddered as she entered her new home. She knew that he had Materia, and before she had used that as her excuse for sticking around. Tonight had changed that, though…but how? She couldn't possibly have feelings for the arrogant SeeD, could she? Was that the reason that she hadn't minded falling asleep next to him, why she hadn't wanted to leave his side when she woke up?

She shook her head viciously. Rakunya was a friend who had good Materia, nothing more. She couldn't even conceive of getting romantically involved with him, or, for that matter, anyone else. She was more than happy enough being just friends, and she hoped on her father's Leviathan Materia that he was just as content.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Hello again. For every story to happen correctly, there must be set-up, so if you were planning on skipping a chapter, don't make it this one. A lot happens with nothing really happening. As for the scene breaks, you'll notice that I added them back in on this chapter, and I'll go back and fix the others soon. In the meantime, read, and even if you don't enjoy, at least review!**  
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**Chapter 3**

"I'm afraid I don't know anything," Rufus said apologetically.

He looked out over the assortment before him. Four emissaries had come before him seeking help, and only one of them seemed worth listening to. The queen of Alexandria, a young man with a tail, a man closer to his age with a very effeminate figure, and a six or seven year old sat before him. To make this situation even stranger, they were asking about Jenova, of all things.

"Surely you must know something," the effeminate man asked. "We have it on good authority that Jenova originated from this area."

"Not from Midgar, I assure you," he said honestly. It was true, Jenova hadn't originated in Midgar, although Hojo had it moved to a laboratory there.

"Then maybe you know where it did come from?" the one with the tail asked.

Rufus gave him some credit; he was quicker than his appearance let on. He smiled slightly. "Well," he said, his tone emphasizing how displeased he was with the crew in his office, "since it would appear that you're all friends of the queen, I suppose I can let you in on a little information."

He leaned back in his chair, trying to remember everything that he could about Jenova. "All that I know for certain is that Jenova was first discovered in the Northern Crater. Feel free to look around up there for clues. As to what exactly it is…it was never satisfactorily explained to me. I do believe, however, that the Shinra records have been updated. I can give you clearance on the 62nd floor where we have our research libraries. Before I do that, however, I would like to know who each of you are, as the formal introductions were skipped. I do, of course, recognize the queen of Alexandria."

"Zidane Tribal," the tailed one said with pride. "Personal bodyguard to the queen."

"Kuja," the effeminate man said, bowing slightly in his chair. "A sorcerer from Terra."

"Eiko Carol," said the last. "The last summoner of Madain Sari."

Rufus raised an eyebrow at this. Had he been dealing with a summoner this whole time and not realized it? Was that the reason for the horn on her head? "Excellent," he said. "If you'll all file out, one at a time, my secretary would be more than happy to escort you to the research libraries."

They filed out of the room as requested, and Rufus leaned over his intercom and pressed the third button. "Professor?" he said calmly. "It has come to my attention that we have a summoner on the premise."

"Shall I…?"

"Nothing obvious, Professor. We wouldn't want to offend our Alexandrian guests. Inform the head of Materia Development of any progress you make. Garden has cooperated with us enough to provide Materia for Guardian Force summons, but we have no eidolons as of yet."

He let go of the button, then leaned back in his chair and laughed.

"You called, Ms. Trepe?" Rakunya asked politely. He was glad to be out of his SeeD uniform and in his typical garb: A blood red cape resting casually on his shoulders, draped over a casual shirt and denim slacks. His katana was sheathed on his right side, his gunblade on the left.

"I've just been informed of your next SeeD mission," Quistis told him. "Squall thinks that you're better suited for this mission than most, though don't expect to be alone. It would seem that our next employer is the Shinra."

"What do the Shinra want with SeeDs?" he wondered aloud. "SOLDIER should be plenty able."

"It would seem that SOLDIER is being predominantly expended elsewhere. In addition, there are several superstitions about this mission. President Rufus, while taking a public stand of indifference and ignorance, is rather worried about these Jenova attacks. He is therefore sending an expedition into a large crater in the north, where Jenova was reportedly first discovered."

"And he wants SeeD to assist in the mission?"

"Precisely. SeeD is to enter the crater, along with the Shinra and what few SOLDIER members they can bring together. Rufus assured us this morning that the mission is strictly exploratory, and no need should arise for combat skills, but it seems odd that he would request SeeD if he wasn't expecting to find anything."

"I agree," Rakunya nodded. He had already formed a basic plan for the mission, all he needed now was a final piece of information. "Who all is going?"

"Selphie is going to be your squad leader, though in this situation, I suppose that co-captain is a better term. Squall has chosen a handful of new SeeDs to follow you two on this mission, and they're orders are to obey without question."

Rakunya nodded. "Can I ask a favor of you then, Quistis? I know that standard procedure is for me to meet my squad leader in the parking area, but do you think you could have Selphie meet me at the front gate?"

Quistis looked at him strangely, but consented, and it wasn't long before the two of them were headed off.

"Our 'troops' are going to meet us at the Balamb dock," she said casually. When he didn't take the hint, she added, "Which is the other way."

"There's a stop that I need to make first," Rakunya said calmly. "I like to be quite knowledgeable in my mission before I dive into it. Here we are," he said, stopping suddenly at a shabby looking house constructed right next to Fire Cavern.

"What can we learn here?" she asked, puzzled.

"Open up, Yuffie!" Rakunya shouted, knocking on her door.

There was a brief pause, but Yuffie did indeed answer. Selphie looked over the ninja with much curiosity; she had never seen anyone dressed quite like her before. A brief look into the house revealed several shurikens hanging on the walls.

"What are you here for?" said Yuffie, who was as confused at their presence as Selphie was.

"Can we come in?" Rakunya asked. "We won't be long, I promise."

She seemed to hesitate a little, but surely enough she led them into her living room. All three of them took a separate chair. "What can I do for you?" Yuffie asked, trying as hard as she could to sound casual.

"First off, introductions," Rakunya said, "although I think you two have seen each other before, isn't that right?"

"Once," Selphie admitted. "The two of you were hanging out around Balamb Garden just before you got your SeeD endorsement."

Rakunya nodded. "Yuffie, this is Selphie, my good friend from Garden and my squad leader on this next mission. Selphie, this is Yuffie, one of the best friends I've ever had, despite a few…er…incidents."

Selhpie raised an eyebrow, but the other two laughed the comment away. "Anyway," Rakunya started again, "as I hinted, I'm about to head out for a SeeD mission, and you'll never guess who the employer is."

"AVALANCHE?"

"Better. Shinra themselves."

Yuffie raised an eyebrow, although she couldn't quite pull it off and it gave her a rather comical appearance. "What does the Shinra want with SeeD? They have SOLDIER!"

Rakunya leaned forward. "That's where you come in, Yuffie. You're going to help me figure it out. Do you remember when the worlds first merged and you told me all about your experiences with AVALANCHE in the Northern Crater? What's up there that the Shinra might be after?"

Yuffie sat straight up, a look of fear on her face. "They're going into Northern Crater?"

"To investigate Jenova," Selphie nodded. "They say they need SeeD because there's a lack of SOLDIER officers right now."

"I'm sure there is, for a mission like that at least!" Yuffie sighed. "Everytime someone enters Northern Crater, something worse is found. The first time, Professor Hojo discovered Jenova. The second, Sephiroth was found. In fact, that's where he called Meteor from…Take me with you!"

Before Selphie could object, Rakunya was laughing. "You don't want to go," he said, still chuckling. "We're going to Junon by boat, and then by airship to Midgar. Besides which, it's against SeeD policy. Of course, if you wanted to meet us there…"

Yuffie nodded. "Alright. But if you get there before me…save me some Materia!"

"Let's hope Materia is all we find," Rakunya said darkly.

The SeeDs left, and Selphie found herself both confused and a little scared. "What did that tell us?"

"It told us why SOLDIER won't go anywhere near that thing," Rakunya explained. "I'm not sure how familiar you are with Sephiroth, but from what I've been told…he's no standard enemy, that's for sure."

"You don't think…"

"Sephiroth is dead. Cloud assured me that he killed him."

Selphie was silent for a minute. "You…You've spoken to Cloud?"

"Only once. Yuffie introduced us during my last trip to Midgar. I also wondered a couple of times if maybe Sephiroth could be responsible for the Jenova attacks, but it doesn't seem likely."

They managed to get to Balamb without incident. It was when they entered the town, however, that things began to change. Selphie saw the bar, and a change came over her. It was slight, and most people wouldn't have noticed it, but Rakunya was incredibly perceptive. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head. Then, "I'll bet Irvine's in there, trying to find some more women."

"Is that what split you two apart?"

She nodded, tears flowing down her cheeks. "_Another_ one. I guess I let him get away with it to many times. I can't believe that I believed him when he said that I was the only one for him!"

Rakunya put his arm around her shoulder. "You'll get past it, Selphie. Trust me. You're a strong woman."

She leaned into him a little, thankful for his support. "I guess," she sighed. "I just thought that maybe, just maybe, I'd found someone…but just when I thought I had…"

"Not everyone's like him, Selphie. You'll find someone, I'm sure of it."

She raised her teary eyes until they met his. "How can you be so sure?"

He smiled down at her. "Because it would be a crime against humanity for someone as wonderful as you to not find somebody."

"Awww………thank you, Rakunya. That means a lot to me."

"You're welcome, Selphie."

They approached the Balamb dock and saw their fellow SeeDs, several of which Rakunya knew by name. "Load up!" Selphie ordered. They saluted and filed into the ships, completely unsure of what laid ahead of them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** Alright, I think I have a break system figured out, although I am quite annoyed that my signature line of stars keeps getting deleted from this site...Anyway, its a short chapter, but I left you all with a little cliffhanger to try to make up for it. Oh, and thanks to the whole four of you that have reviewed. Keep it coming! 

Also, I have just realized that I have failed to put in a dsiclaimer, so here goes:

**DISCLAIMER:** When this story began, I did not own Final Fantasy. By the time I'm done with this story, it will STILL be the property of Squeenix. Hence, disclaimer. Any original characters are mine and mine alone, unless otherwise stated. Rakunya is not mine. He is my friendly mind's brainchild of boredom.

**Chapter 4**

Rinoa looked out over the balcony. The view was perfect and incredibly beautiful, enough to take her breath away every time she saw it. As much as she loved it, though, she couldn't spend the whole day simply gazing out at the scenery. There was something important that was bothering her, and she couldn't quite place it

She'd had this feeling pestering her ever since the worlds united. Something about it all just never sat right with her, and nobody had sufficiently explained anything to her. Why, for instance, had the worlds merged in the first place? Were there other worlds out there for merger? If there were, why only these worlds? She wasn't as comfortable with this whole thing as the rest of the world seemed to be. Perhaps everybody just found accepting it to be easier than wanting an explanation.

She pulled her coat on and slipped quietly out of the Garden. They may not have wanted an explanation, but she certainly did. Something, anything that would put her mind at ease. She knew exactly who to go to for answers, too. She proceeded towards Balamb, hoping she wouldn't miss the train to Esthar. She needed to speak with Dr. Odine, the only man that she knew who might be able to make sense out of this crazy world.

* * *

"Again, quite sorry to have to send you without executives," Rufus told them, "but we're a little tied up in our political situation with Esthar. All I can spare is a Turk or two…"

"All that we really need is a pilot, sir," Selphie told him. "SeeD is more than happy to do our mission unescorted."

"Of course, that is your job, isn't it?" Rufus chuckled slightly to himself. "If there's anything at all that you need before departing…"

"We'll be fine, President Rufus," Rakunya said. "We're ready to leave at any time."

"Excellent," he said, stepping off the airship. "Just tell the pilot that its time to leave."

Before the hatch had finished closing, Selphie had spoken to the pilot, and the airship was leaving it's docking bay. She sighed as they quickly approached the Northern Crater. "I wish I knew how to pilot Shinra ships," she said, pretending to be depressed about it.

"I'm sure it wouldn't take you long, ma'am," the pilot said enthusiastically. "I can let you try on the return trip if you like."

The rest of the trip was rather uneventful, although Selphie was much more pleased than before. The docked the airship at the top of the crater and opened the hatch.

"So far so good," one of the pilots commented. "Last time, there was a barrier around this thing."

"Don't speak too soon," Rakunya growled, instinctively drawing his katana. "We have company."

Immediately behind them, over the lip of the crater, came four figures, the apparent oldest with the most feminine figure of all of them, despite the fact that half of the party was girls. Rakunya would have attacked had he not recognized Zidane Tribal. Selphie would have attacked if she hadn't recognized Queen Garnet of Alexandria. "Queen Garnet!" she exclaimed.

"Bit of an odd place to be taking a Queen, Zidane…or a date for that matter."

Selphie gave Rakunya a quizzical look. "Squall's right," she said. "You really _do_ know everybody!"

"Not quite," he said. "For example," he added, looking now at Eiko, "I can't remember this young summoner's name for the life of me."

"It's Eiko!" she said, a big smirk on her face. She had previously taken a liking to Rakunya, though he was no Zidane. "And don't you forget it!"

"Ah yes," he said with a mock bow. "Eiko Carol, of Madain Sari."

"What do you _want_?" Kuja suddenly asked, clearly quite annoyed. Apparently, Selphie had been looking over his appearance quite thoroughly.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Please don't be offended or anything. It's just…I've never seen a guy dress so…effeminately!"

"Nor have I seen someone choose to wear their hair in such a strange manner, but you don't see me gawking, now do you?"

Zidane walked over to Rakunya and whistled. "An _airship_. Somebody's on Ruffie's good side. Why'd he give you an airship while we had to climb the side of this thing?"

"I'm a _SeeD_, Zidane. Rufus hired us to investigate this crater in relation to a being named Jenova. What're you up here for?"

"The same thing, apparently," Kuja said calmly. "We, of course, were not hired by Rufus to man his under-funded agency."

"Money's money," Rakunya shrugged. "SeeDs are hired out to do different jobs for different people. Rufus just happened to shell out the gil."

"Did Jenova attack Alexandria, too, Queen Garnet?" Selphie asked.

"Yes," Garnet said sadly. "We were fortunate not to lose any lives, and for that we must thank Kuja."

Selphie sighed. "I wish we had a better idea of what this thing was."

"Perhaps the crater has answers?" Rakunya suggested.

"Perhaps?" Eiko shouted. "_Perhaps_? It had _better_ have answers! I don't want to have come all this way for nothing!"

Rakunya laughed and motioned for the SeeDs to follow them deeper into the crater. It did indeed go much deeper, and for a brief moment Rakunya wondered how exactly it got there. He thought about asking, but he doubted that anyone there new, and if Yuffie had arrived, she was hiding in the shadows.

It was as they approached what Selphie hoped to be the bottom that they're first trouble occurred. A long sword had thrust itself directly above Kuja's ear, so close that not everyone was sure that it had missed him. He spun around and readied a spell, but no one was prepared for what came up behind him.

Rising out of a crack in the ground and now floating half an inch above the surface was a tall figure clad in black. His silver hair flowed out behind him like water. The sword seemed to be rather an eight-foot extension of his hand than something that he was holding. His large shoulders, made even larger by his shoulder pads, faced his enemy squarely, as his stark blue eyes pierced Kuja's very being, searching for his inner depths. Despite his cool façade, Kuja could never have expected to face an enemy like Sephiroth.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Kuja merely stared down the blade of the sword that still hovered inches away from the side of his face. His opponent was an impressive and handsome figure, his flowing silver hair adding to the menacing and foreboding feel. He tried to keep calm on the outside, but every part of his body was screaming at him to run.

Sephiroth pulled the sword back and swung again, and Kuja was barely able to duck in time. Frustrated, Sephiroth lunged. Kuja managed to roll away, but his shoulder was sliced open in the process. Another swing and he had a similar wound on his opposite arm.

"Kuja!"

"Here!" shouted Rakunya, tossing his katana to the injured Kuja, who managed to parry Sephiroth's next attack before unleashing a Fira spell. Sephiroth took the blow as though it were nothing, then unleashed his own powerful Fire spell. He found, however, that it was simply launched back at him. He glared angrily at Kuja as Carbuncle faded. He returned to his previous approach, but a quick thinking Garnet had cast Protect around him.

He spun suddenly, sensing Rakunya's attack before it connected, and, pushing off with his sword, he threw Rakunya against the crater wall. Rakunya hit hard, losing his gunblade in the toss. Before Sephiroth could move in for the kill, however, Selphie cast Wall around her fallen comrade. Zidane lunged at Sephiroth, but with a single spin, Sephiroth dodged the attack and sliced Zidane across his back, leaving a large gash.

He moved back towards Rakunya. Selphie tried to stop him, but one quick slice was all it took to silence her. All of the other fighters in the group had been taken down, and the large group of worthless flunkies was trying to protect the apparent head of this expedition, who was now the last fighter standing. Rakunya raised his right arm and cocked his pistol.

"That's as far as you go, Sephiroth," he warned. Sephiroth raised his blade, as if to cut through the SeeDs, clearing the path between himself and Rakunya, but Rakunya merely continued to glare at him. "That sword moves another inch and I'll end it right here and now."

Sephiroth tauntingly flicked his wrist, and, true to his word, Rakunya fired. The bullet never hit Sephiroth, however; his free hand had grabbed the bullet the moment before it hit his face. He didn't expect, however, that this little maneuver would give the closest SeeD time to fire an arrow into his stomach. The time it took him to remove the arrow was all the time the SeeDs needed to overwhelm him.

Despite their sword mastery, however, they proved not to be enough for Sephiroth, who caught several attacks at the same time with his sword and thrust the attackers into other SeeDs. A pair of whip experts grabbed his sword, but he simply snapped the blade back towards himself quickly, slicing off the ends of their whips.

The SeeDs prepared another assault, but all seemed in vain as Sephiroth cast his most powerful Bolt spell to immobilize all of them. The SeeDs out of the way, his focus drifted back to Rakunya, who had reacquired his gunblade and was preparing for Sephiroth's inevitable assault. As Sephiroth raised his blade, however, a shuriken lodged itself firmly in his shoulder.

Standing about where Rakunya had been moments before, the ninja Yuffie stood, poised for battle and in the processes of throwing a sword at Sephiroth. As he was expecting it this time, he managed to deflect it with his own blade. He took a swing at her, but he found himself distracted by Rakunya's Fira spell, which had connected squarely in the middle of his chest.

He turned to attack Rakunya, but he soon found himself lying on his back, underneath the force of the eidolon Fenrir. His raged increased as the eidolon vanished, however, and Eiko soon found herself pinned to the ground underneath Sephiroth's boot, his full strength bearing down on her, literally crushing the strength out of her. Again he was interrupted before he could make his kill, this time by the mighty eidolon Atomos. While it did little to him, it distracted him enough that Zidane was able to crawl away with Eiko under his arm.

Another wave of SeeDs came charging, and Sephiroth decided that enough was enough. He turned casually and impaled a row of them, then threw them off his Masamune into another row of SeeDs, pinning them to the ground with their own comrades. Sensing the next attack, he quickly spun around, slicing Rakunya's pistol and rendering it useless. Rakunya cursed, then threw the remains of his gun at Sephiroth. It connected and enraged Sephiroth further.

Raising his arms, Sephiroth softly chanted something incoherent. As he did, the ground beneath them began to shake and crack apart. It seemed, at first, as though something was coming out of the cracks in the ground, but everything stopped when another quake shook Sephiroth from his spot. None of the present party seemed to be expecting the aftershock.

Sephiroth looked up at the sky accusingly, then laughed. "Fine," he said. "If it is not yet time, I shall at least cleanse Mother's grave of the unworthy."

He leapt into the air and fired a blast of destructive energy directly into the ground. The resulting explosion and shockwave sent the occupants of the crater flying outwards. Sephiroth smiled as he flew past, knowing that he had succeeded in killing them all. He would return later to seal the crater from intruders, then again later to finish the job that he had started.

Yuffie shook her head as she flew, desperately trying to maintain consciousness and think of a way that she could save herself. Not far from her, she saw Rakunya, already lower than she was and completely stunned by the blast. If he was to survive, she would have to think of a way to save them both. Her mind raced as she searched for a way to live. She didn't have long; they're fate seemed to be an early end in a watery grave. At almost the last second, she grabbed at her bangle and activated a Materia, hoping that she picked one that would save them.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Suspense! Intrigue! And...a really short chapter, but hopefully I did good with it. 

I am in need of Reviews! Five chapters, Five reviews...but I don't need balance like that. I want reviews!


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** Fair warning, we are beginning the necessary filler. The plot will move more slowly now (for the most part), but it will be well worth the wait. There are SEVERAL cameos approaching that will later become full roles. I'm sorry if its getting a little confusing; it feels like I'm writing War and Peace with all of the characters I'm trying to incorporate seperately! 

In the meantime, you now find out the fates of some of the crater's occupants, as well as your first hint (albeit a VERY subtle one) at who the mystery man is. Send me your guess if you have them. I love hearing what other people think my twists will turn out to be, which is part of the reason I write here more than my original stuff. A cameo to the first person to guess right. PLEASE, though, don't put your guess in the reply section if you want the cameo, because I don't want to let others know if you were right or not. Message them to me, and I'll reply to anything you send.

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 6**

Fortunately, Yuffie had equipped her father's Leviathan Materia shortly before leaving, expecting a terrible fight. She had completely forgotten about it when the fight actually broke out; seeing Sephiroth alive for a third time would do that to you. Nevertheless, it was still there, and when she summoned it she rode its tidal wave to safety on a lonely and remote shore.

She checked herself over, making sure that she was still in one piece and that nothing was missing. It was then that she remembered that she had been trying to save Rakunya as well. She scanned the beach, then saw that he was there, laying face down, not moving. She rushed over to him and turned him over, then gasped.

True, he was alive, or at the least he was still breathing, but the last half-hour had not been kind to him. Not only was his face cut from the rocks he had landed on, but his arm was still oozing fresh blood from a wound she hadn't realized he had. She looked the wound over closely. It was too clean cut to have been from a rock; this was the work of Sephiroth's blade. She stood up, searching frantically for something to tie his arm with, hoping she could stop the bleeding before he lost too much blood. The beach was bare, however, and she finally resolved to tear off a strip from her own shirt to bandage the wound. It wasn't great, but it would have to do. She thought about looking for help, but she didn't want to leave Rakunya alone, and she certainly wasn't strong enough to carry him. She decided just to sit there and watch him, waiting to see if he would come around.

Another hour passed before he finally did wake up, but he hardly moved at first when he did. His mind was still in shock over what happened. The entire journey through the crater seemed to be buzzing in his mind. The attack by Sephiroth, the sacrifice of the SeeDs, the explosion…that mind numbing explosion…he pondered that for a moment. He pondered the sheer force that explosion must have taken to create. He wondered how he made it out alive. He was the closest person to the source of the blast, except for…

"Yuffie!" he shouted, sitting straight up. He winced, then laid back down, clutching his arm.

Yuffie started awake when she heard him shout. "Rakunya?" she said timidly, wondering if she had simply dreamt it. She had been drifting off since she had decided to sit watch over him. "Are you awake?"

He winced again as he forced himself to sit up. "Good," he said, looking at her. "You made it."

Yuffie leaned over and hugged him, careful not to hurt his arm. "I'm so glad you're alive!"

Rakunya sat there and accepted the hug, his mind still swimming. "What happened?" he finally asked as Yuffie pulled away. "How did we survive?"

"I summoned Leviathan," she said. "We rode the tidal wave to shore." She looked around and added, "Though I'm not sure _which_ shore…"

"We can worry about that later," Rakunya said simply. "Right now, I just want to embrace the fact that we're alive." There was a brief and almost awkward pause before Rakunya's mind began clicking. "Where is everyone else?"

Yuffie sighed and shook her head. "We were all scattered when the blast hit. I don't even know if the others are alive."

Rakunya cursed under his breath. He had let them all down; Eiko, Zidane, Selphie…he paused an extra moment on her name. What could have happened to her? Could she have made it out alive like he did? "As least you made it out, Yuffie," he said softly, realizing after the fact that it probably sounded more romantic than he had intended yet not rectifying this in the least.

Yuffie was a bit taken aback by his caring emotion but she quickly collected herself. "We don't know that the others are dead, Rakunya."

"True," he said. "But all we know for sure is that the two of us are alive. We have to make it back to tell everyone what happened. Squall, Cloud…" His voice trailed off. Should they really tell Cloud that Sephiroth had returned? Cloud had managed to defeat Sephiroth twice before, and never had it been enough. Perhaps this time the world needed someone else to face off against Sephiroth. Or perhaps he was mistaken, and perhaps Sephiroth's revival was merely a byproduct of the merger of the worlds. It was all still speculation.

He tired to stand, but he yelped in pain. Forgetting about his still-bleeding arm for a moment, he had tried to raise himself up with his bad arm. Yuffie rushed to his side, but he held up his good hand. "I'll be fine," he said through gritted teeth. "Just help me up and don't let me do anything stupid like that again."

She pulled him to his feet, and he leaned against her as he tried to regain his strength and balance. "Take it easy," Yuffie said as calmly as she could. "You lost a lot of blood."

There was a short pause, then, "You were right."

"Hm?"

"About Sephiroth. You were right. He _is _an amazing swordsman. Pictures and descriptions give him no justice."

"'Bout the only thing that would give him justice is that sword through his stomach," Yuffie muttered as they began walking slowly away from the ocean.

* * *

Selphie shook herself off, then fell over, her sense of balance having not quite returned. Slowly and carefully she stood, regained her balance, and checked herself over. Her Wall spell seemed to have absorbed most of the damage, but it didn't stop her from being thrown to Hyne only knew where. _Even Hyne might not know, what with the different landscape and all,_ she chuckled to herself.

She looked around and saw the two tailed figures standing not far from her, the younger, clearly more shaken up, leaning on the elder for support. She looked curiously at the elder, who simply sighed. "I'm a sorcerer," he explained as he cauterized his own wounds with a small flame. "I've survived worse."

Kuja looked down at Zidane. Zidane apeeared to be in some pain, but the wound on his back was not nearly as deep as they had assumed; it wasn't even bleeding, and despite some stiffness, he could still move around perfectly fine. "Apparently we are not the only ones with interest in Jenova."

Zidane eased himself into standing alone. He turned and saw Selphie. "Hello," he said. "You were with us in the crater, right? I'm Zidane, and this is Kuja."

"Selphie," she said, shaking their hands. She took notice of Kuja's silver hair and remembered the fight from earlier and something that Rakunya had said during the fight…Rakunya…where was he?…"Do either of you know anything about Sephiroth?"

"He was the man that attacked us," Kuja said. "That is the extent of my knowledge."

"Sorry," Zidane concurred. "He sure was a damn good fighter, though."

Selphie hated to admit it, but Zidane was right. Everything about the fight, even the sword itself, told her that Sephiroth was a master fighter. He seemed to be unstoppable when he wielded that blade. She mentally scolded herself. No one was unstoppable. If they could defeat a sorceress from the future, they could stop Sephiroth.

"Do you think anyone else made it out?" Selphie asked timidly.

"I doubt it," Kuja admitted bluntly. He later added, "But anything's possible."

"Yeah," Zidane said. "We made it out, didn't we? I'm sure someone else was strong enough to survive." He winced suddenly, the cut in his back becoming painfully more evident.

"Are you going to be ok?" Kuja asked, a certain softness in his voice that neither had really heard before.

Zidane winced a little but he seemed to shake it off. "I'll be fine," he said casually. "At least until we make it to a town. Between the three worlds, I'm sure we're close to something."

_Something_, Selphie thought. _Or maybe someone?_

"Let's go," she said suddenly. "We might not know where we are going, but there's always a chance that we'll find one of the others.

Kuja looked as if he were about to say something, but he quickly changed his mind. There was no point in being pessimistic right now. If hope was what kept the other two going, then he would let them have it. He would ignore, for now, the fact that the odds were against them. Kuja had only made it out by slipping into trance at the last second, which allowed him to pull Zidane away unharmed. He assumed that he had misjudged Selphie and the Wall that she had been casting. The others, though…at the least, he was sure that Zidane's partners had no skills that would keep them alive.

He looked down and saw that he was still holding the katana. Swords felt strange to him; he had never relied much on physical strength. Magic was his area, but even that had failed him against Sephiroth. This blade, even though he had been unable to do much with it, had saved his life. Even if its owner was dead, there had to be something that he could do to show his appreciation.

"Selphie," Kuja said. "This sword…it belonged to you friend, yes?"

Selphie nodded. _What if Kuja's right? What if no one else made it out of the crater alive? Was that the last time I'll ever get to see Rakunya?_

"Then let's go," Kuja said firmly, breaking into her thoughts. "I need to return this."

* * *

"I still don't like it."

"Why not? Everything has gone as I said, has it not?"

"Yeah, but boss you're playing with a wild card."

The man in the chair laughed, chilling the blood of his associate. "So what if I am? I know what I am doing, and I know what Sephiroth will do. I have everything under control."

"Sir, I'm afraid I have trouble believing you. Sephiroth is moving too quickly, and you can't afford to have a rival."

He went to say more, but a hand gripped his throat, cutting off the air. He struggled to get loose, but his boss simply laughed and broke his neck. He fell to the floor, a disheveled mass.

"Anyone else having trouble believing me?" His other two associates shook their heads and muttered "No, sir."

He turned his back to them. "Good," he said. "Get this body out of my sight. It disgusts me."

* * *

**Author's** **P.S.: **A long chapter, I know, but there's going to be more like this now, maybe even some that are longer. Preview of next time: Rinoa fans will finally get to see what happens on her visit to see Odine.  



	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 

"Come in, Come in," Odine insisted. "Vat seemz to be ze trouble?"

Rinoa sat down on one of Dr. Odine's strangely shaped benches, secretly hoping that it wasn't rigged. She questioned herself for coming here, but who else could help? "I was wondering…" She paused, wondering how to phrase her inquiries. "Dr. Odine, what do you know about the merger of the worlds?"

Dr. Odine thought for a moment, then sighed as his pager went off. "I am zorry, but urgent buziness haz arizen."

"Then perhaps I could be of some assistance," a shadowy voice offered.

Rinoa turned her head towards the entrance and saw a tall man with thick, black hair. He had apparently just come in; his red cape was still settling from the wind. He turned to Rinoa, intently focusing his red eyes on her. She turned back to Odine, who scurried off to his laboratory.

"You were asking about the worlds and their merger, correct?" the man said, his tone catching her off-guard. For all of her time with Squall, Rinoa never could have prepared herself for such a cold, unnerving tone. His near lack of emotion seemed to penetrate to her very soul, but she was careful not to let him see her fear.

"Yes," she said as calmly as she could. "I'm Rinoa Heartilly," she added, extending her hand.

"Vincent Valentine," he replied, turning around and ignoring her hand. "If you'll follow me. I don't trust Odine enough to discuss this matter with you here."

"But…don't you have business here?" she asked. He had, after all, just come in.

"This is more important." He continued walking out of the laboratory.

"Where are we going?" she asked timidly, following him through the door. "And how are we getting there?"

"We'll take the train," he said. "It won't take us all the way there; we'll have to walk for a while past the train station. As for where, I doubt you have heard of it. Few remember that it exists, which is why it has been dubbed The Forgotten Capital."

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Odine was furious. How dare they alert him and then have the nerve to be late! He had the perfect opportunity to speak with a living sorceress, and they had just robbed him of that pleasure. Their business had best be important.

A young man in a blue suit entered the room where Odine had been waiting. "She's here," he said calmly.

"Vat? Vat do you mean?"

"You desired a test subject, did you not? Our scientists either could not or did not want to handle this case, but from what I understand this sort of thing is right up your alley."

"And vat sort of thing iz this? You have told me nutzing!"

"You will understand in time. Just know that we expect your full cooperation. There is no need for anything less, correct? If we have that assurance from you, then the specimen is all yours, to do with as you please. I have also been asked to warn you that there may eventually be resistance to you having her, and that if for some reason you are questioned, we are never to be mentioned."

"And you shall be asking your uzuall paymentz?"

"Timely delivered, as always."

The young man pointed to Odine's observation window as he left. Odine ran to the window and shouted for joy at what they had brought him. Forget the sorceress; he had just been delivered a summoner.

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"The train might as well be empty," Rinoa said, clearly annoyed. "We could start talking here."

Vincent sighed at the broken silence. He had hoped to wait until they had returned to the forest, but Rinoa seemed to be a very impatient young woman.

"Only if I may begin with a question: What were you doing in Odine's laboratory?"

Rinoa seemed taken aback by the question. Why should he care? She asked him as much, to which he darkly replied, "You are a sorceress, the prime focus of Odine's 'research'."

Rinoa let her mouth hang open for a few moments, then asked, "How did you know that?"

"I know much about this new world, and yet there are always things that must be learned."

"And Odine was going to help you learn those things?"

Vincent shook his head. "Odine _is_ one of those things. He is a madman, a wild card, impossible to tell who he will befriend, what he will do. He seems to be more devoted to his research than anything else, even human life. I once knew a man like that. If Odine is similar, then he must be stopped before any trouble can begin."

Rinoa sat in silence for a moment, awestruck, but she quickly regained her composure. "So what do you know about the merger of the worlds?"

"I do not understand why, and I believe that no one ever shall. I thought at one time that it came from the stories of your world, tales of a sorceress from the future who desired to compress time. I thought perhaps these tales were misleading, and that the sorceress desired to compress space instead of time."

"No," Rinoa said firmly. "Ultimecia's goal was time compression. I should know, I was with the ones who fought her."

"Interesting," Vincent remarked. "I wonder where her sorceress powers have gone, then…unless I assumed wrong that you were a sorceress before the battle." Rinoa went to comment, but instead just affirmed Vincent's assumptions. She wasn't sure that she liked him; he knew way too much, especially about her.

"Recent events are making me think otherwise, however," Vincent continued. "I witnessed the return of the Calamity in Wutai, the first appearance since the first defeat of Sephiroth years ago."

"First?" Rinoa asked, not sure that she wanted the answer.

"After he was defeated in the Northern Cave, Sephiroth lived on in the Lifestream through the sheer force of his willpower. He willed three remnants of himself to life, three remnants who were sent out to search for any remaining cells of Jenova to recreate the Reunion, a phenomenon where those infused with Jenova's cells, such as Sephiroth, gather together in an attempt to rebuild Jenova. When one of the remnants came into contact with the cells of Jenova, however, Sephiroth was reborn, emerging from nothingness and replacing the remnant in existence. He was defeated again, but I have always feared that his will lived on, and the rebirth of the Calamity has given meaning to my suspicions."

"What is this Calamity that you keep mentioning?"

"Heaven's Dark Harbinger, Jenova. Pieces of Jenova were seen in a section of each former world; one appeared in Alexandria, another in your Balamb, and the last in Wutai, a small town from my world."

Rinoa was confused, but she did at least like the fact that Vincent still referred to them as separate worlds. If nothing else, they seemed to share an uncertainty about the way things had ended up.

"How could this have happened?" she wondered aloud, not really expecting an answer.

"I cannot say," Vincent answered anyway. "By all regards, the worlds should have been destroyed in the collision." Rinoa stared at him aghast. "I have seen fragments of other worlds scattered throughout each. I wonder if the intent had been to use these worlds as weapons against each other. Perhaps time compression distorted the original plan."

Rinoa hesitated before asking, "Is this…permanent?"

"One would think." The lights went out as the train violently shook. "We, however, may not be."

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Rufus casually stretched in his chair, humming to himself. Everything was going according to plan. Before the year's end, Esthar would be wiped off the map and be an official property of ShinRa Inc. It wouldn't take long; all of the pieces were almost in place. In many ways the last piece was unnecessary, but Rufus liked to be prepared.

The door opened, and his unexpected visitor sat down across from him. "Good to see you, Cloud," Rufus said politely.

"Cut the formalities, Rufus," Cloud insisted. "What is your interest in Esthar?"

Rufus smiled. He expected Cloud to figure things out; Cloud had a knack for doing things like that. Rufus, however, also had a knack for twisting the truth.

"My only interest in Esthar is that of my people, Cloud," he said, the smile on his face still reeking of political charm. "As long as Esthar continues to disrespect my authority in this area and send spies into the Materia mines, I must wonder about the safety of my citizens. Surely, Cloud, you don't want to see the innocent people hurt?"

"That's exactly my point," Cloud growled. "Neither you nor Esthar seems to know what exactly the other wants, but I wouldn't put anything past you."

"Perhaps you are too quick to judge me, Cloud. I admit, my company and I have made a few…mistakes…in the past, but I assure you that I desire a peaceful world as much as you do."

Cloud stood up and turned to leave. He wasn't going to sit there and be lied to. "If this is another unnecessary war, Rufus, AVALANCHE _will_ move against the aggressor."

"Point taken, Cloud. I had just hoped that you had gotten over your former prejudices."

Cloud stormed out of the building and grabbed his phone. He paused briefly, then called Tifa. "I'm on my way," he said. "Rufus was just as stubborn," he added, disappointment creeping into his voice.

"You try too hard sometimes, Cloud. You know that, right? Take a vacation. We'll all go. Next week, ok?"

Cloud wondered for a moment if this was a good idea, but he also knew better than to fight with Tifa. "It's a date," he said as he hung up the phone.

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Rufus laughed. What would Cloud do if he knew the truth? It was hard to say; Cloud always was hard to guess. More specifically, the path he took to get there was hard to guess, but everyone knew the final outcome. Rufus guessed that Cloud had even begun to suspect a showdown between AVALANCHE and Shinra approaching. Everything would come to a head soon. He knew that Cloud would never allow Shinra to become the world power it had been when the worlds had been separate, but Rufus could not pass up the opportunity for power.

All that still stood in his way was the bumbling fool Laguna. They had met before, when the worlds first had merged, and they had immediately taken a disliking to each other. Perhaps this grudge was Rufus's underlying reason for going after Esthar, but there were several more important things playing for him as well, such as Lunatic Pandora.

His thoughts, however, were suddenly interrupted as a black clad figure leapt from the ceiling and pressed a dagger against his throat. "President Rufus," the figure the figure snarled. "Your time is up."

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**Author's Note:** Wow, a lot has happenned in my absence. Namely, the site ruler broke. For now, I'm boring the line of unsightly L's from the Final Trinitiy story, seeing as this site despises my line of 13 asterisks (sp?) with a tab between them. I'll come up with a new way for scene breaks each chapter until they decide to fix the ruler.

On a different note, I plan on doing at least one chapter a day now for about a week to make up for my absence. I already have up through chapter 14 written, so it shouldn't be a problem. Sorry for the delay, read and respond, "et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!" (Hooray Yul Breyner)

R.I.P Steve Irwin

**PREVIEW **(I plan on doing these now, what do you think?) Not everything can go expeted for everyone. The crater proved that to half our cast. Now, it is time for three more characters to learn this truth. What happened to Rinoa and Vincent? Find the answer next chapter!


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** Thank you to all of you who reviewed, by which I mean Pied Flycatcher. Support is appreciated, people. I write for me, but I post for you!

Anywho, in case you couldn't guess, its going to take a couple chapters to tie up the loose ends of the Crater. If you're wondering what happenned to a certain character, I HAVEN'T forgotten ANY of them. You will find out by the week's end if I can stick to my posting schedule. Still, let me know if you think I'm leaving anything out so that I can make sure I have all the loose ends tied up.

**Chapter 8**

Rinoa clung to the side of the train as best as she could as it lurched again. She tried to stand up, but again the train lurched and she fell forward. Vincent caught her just before she hit the ground, and it was then that she noticed his golden claw; the revelation almost made her scream, but she decided better, especially given the circumstances.

"We're stopping," Vincent growled. Something had been attacking the train, and his uncertainty as to what it was annoyed him as much as the fact that they were being attacked.

Rinoa grabbed her Pinwheel and attached it to her arm, suddenly glad that she had packed it. "Shall we?" she asked, sounding, in Vincent's mind, too ready to face the unknown enemy.

Her question was immediately answered by a loud screech as a claw tore through their train compartment. The two rolled to opposite sides of their compartment, narrowly avoiding the thrashing claw. Rinoa heard a gunshot, and as the claw was pulled out of the train she saw Vincent holding a three-barreled gun. He leapt out of the train through the hole that was left. Rinoa clumsily attempted to follow, but she stopped suddenly when she saw their enemy.

The claw had belonged to a massive dragon that was flying through the sky above them, circling the train and roaring ferociously, as if daring them to come out and attack. It unleashed a blast of fire at them, nearly hitting Vincent. It dove straight for their compartment again, and Rinoa barely had the presence of mind to leap out before the great beast struck.

"Tiamat," she whispered to no one, not realizing that Vincent was right next to her.

"You recognize this beast?" he asked calmly. "Perhaps you know how to defeat it?"

Rinoa shook her head, wishing now that she had come with Squall instead of insisting on travelling alone. "We were all together when we fought it before," she said timidly.

"Then you have faced it already?"

"In a sense. It was one of the guardians in Ultimecia's castle."

The beast stood where their train compartment had once been and threw the train off the tracks to give itself more room. It roared again, but it was interrupted as Vincent shot it several times, leaping forward to get a better shot. The dragon swung at him with his claws, but Vincent seemed, at least to Rinoa, to be inhumanly agile.

She, too, joined the fray, firing at Tiamat's head and hoping that her attack would actually injure the dragon. To her dismay, however, neither her nor Vincent seemed to be doing any more than frustrating the already enraged beast. As if in desperation, she unleashed a Thundaga spell, but it seemed to do little as well; the dragon seemed to be resistant to magic. The sorceress then shrieked as she was struck by Tiamat's tail and thrust into the rocky landscape around them.

Seconds too late, Vincent leapt onto the beast's head and fired three bullets directly into its eyes, each one hitting its mark and blinding the dragon. While enraging the dragon, he hoped that it would help them in the regard that the dragon could no longer see what it was doing, which hopefully meant they wouldn't be struck as Rinoa was anymore.

Unfortunately for Vincent, he had not anticipated the dragon's claw to grab him from behind, the dragon knowing exactly where Vincent was the entire time. He cursed himself for being so foolish, knowing that Rinoa wasn't in any condition to even distract the beast long enough for him to escape. Part of him realized that he likely had only one chance for escape, but even in times of danger Vincent remained calm and logical. This was no time to call on Chaos. He would rather humble himself and ask for help than call Chaos, something that the others never understood but all accepted nonetheless.

He knew that even calling for help was futile, though. Even if he could've reached his phone, no one was even close enough to come to his rescue. The only thing that he had going for him was that the train had not gone far, and the Esthar authorities were likely to have seen Tiamat floating around their precious town. If he could just hold on long enough for them to arrive.

Tiamat angrily threw Vincent on the ground. He felt lucky not to have broken anything on contact, despite the reasons that he could sustain such injuries, but at the same time he was barely strong enough to stand, let alone fight Tiamat. He braced himself for Tiamat's life ending attack, but it never came. He looked up and saw a large…thing…firing at Tiamat before vanishing. He looked over at Rinoa.

"The GF Eden," she said. "It was my last hope."

"It wasn't enough," Vincent told her, standing as Tiamat roared again. He was running out of options; more importantly, they were running out of time. There was only one choice left if they were to make it out alive.

Rinoa rushed towards the beast, hoping the use her magic to send it the other way, or at least distract the blind dragon to keep it from discovering where they were. Vincent, on the other hand, stayed behind and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He quickly called Cloud, who, to his surprise, answered his phone.

"How long will it take you to get to Esthar?" Vincent asked.

"Hard to say," Cloud said. "I'd have to find a train."

"No time," Vincent said. "Ride Fenrir on the train tracks. It's the only way you'll make it in time."

"Vincent, what's going on?"

"You'll see when you get here. Use any means necessary."

He leapt in the air, heading straight for Tiamat. Rinoa thought he was insane, fearing that if he got too close the dragon might be able to strike him again. She screamed when she saw what happened instead.

From Vincent's back sprouted a massive pair of demon wings. His arms grew and gained large animal claws on his hands. His clothing seemed to fuse into his skin, changing into a demon hide. A tail sprouted and thrashed around wildly. A great demon soon hovered where once Vincent had been leaping.

The beast roared ferociously and lunged at Tiamat, striking the dragon's throat with what Rinoa guessed was his full force. A large gaping wound appeared, and blood dripped down the dragon's neck as it bellowed in pain. Tiamat took flight and dove towards his new enemy. The demon grappled with him momentarily before throwing the great dragon to the ground, bellowing in pain. The demon landed beside the stunned dragon, roared, and snapped the dragon's neck. Rinoa could only assume that the beast had died.

Even with the aid of the demon, Rinoa had expected the fight to last for some time, but the demon had won in hardly five minutes time. He roared in triumph, apparently proud in his accomplishment. He looked around, and he caught sight of Rinoa, who was trying to leave the scene with no success. Fear had paralyzed her, and though she was slowly moving backwards, it seemed as though she had made no progress at all.

The demon leapt into the air and landed in front of her. It took a step forward, and fear again overtook her. At first she feared for her life. Part of her knew that this demon was, at one time, Vincent, but it hadn't really clicked with her until the demon stood there in front of her, staring intently. Somewhere within the beast was Vincent, trying to convince the demon not to attack, she was almost certain of it. She feared that it was a losing battle, however.

Her fears were confirmed when the demon lashed out at her. He missed his mark, but only barely, and she was left with a long gash along the side of her arm. "Vincent," she whispered, terrified. "Vincent, _please_."

If there was any of Vincent left in the demon, which Rinoa was beginning to doubt, he could no longer hear her. The demon slashed again, but Rinoa had regained herself enough to roll aside and dodge the claw. She got up and started running.

She ran in vain, however. She soon saw the demon standing in front of her. With one sweep he threw her back, knocking her onto the ground. He roared with pride and ran towards her. She scrambled to get out of the way of his claws again with only mild success; she winced as a small piece of her shoulder was torn off. She rolled over and stood up, holding out her hand.

"Sorry, Vincent," she whispered.

The demon charged again, but he was thrown back by a Firaga spell. At best, he was stunned. It seemed that all the spell did was give her time to ready another. She released a Thundaga, but the beast grew enraged. He rushed at her, and despite her hasty Protect spell, she was thrown several yards. She managed to remain conscious, likely due to her now shattered spell, but she knew that she wouldn't fare quite as well against another hit.

She heard a low rumble and wondered why the demon was growling at her. Unfortunately, the noise distracted her, and the demon came and struck her again. She laid on the ground as the demon came over her. She stared at it, her eyes wide with fear as she waited for the demon to finish her off. The rumble grew louder, and suddenly the demon fell over. Standing behind him was a man with spiky blond hair and a large sword, the hilt of which he had apparently used to stun the demon. Had Rinoa had more presence of mind, she might've recognized her savior.

"Looks like I came just in time," Cloud said. He spun quickly, blocking another strike from the demon. He turned partially and struck the demon with the broadside of his sword, throwing him several feet and knocking him out. Cloud struck him with the hilt once more, just to be safe.

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The man actually got out of his chair. His associates scattered in fear of what their boss might do, but instead of lashing out, he laughed.

"We have a new target, boys," he said, the laugh still echoing throughout the room. "If Chaos can defeat Tiamat, there's no telling what he might do!"

One of his associates timidly walked over to him. "Sir?" he asked cautiously. "Are you sure that's such a wise idea? Even if we could get our hands on Vincent for long enough to actually capture him, how could you get Chaos to cooperate?"

Another was bold enough to agree. "If Sephiroth is a wild card, then what do you consider Chaos? He…it…doesn't conform to any will but its own. What happens when it grows out of your control?"

"Nonsense!" their boss said. "I know exactly what I'm doing! Besides, you aren't here to question me, you're here to help me!"

"Sir, I…" one of them began, but he was quickly cut off. It had taken only one silencing strike, but the man was dead. The other associates began to panic as the sword that killed their comrade was removed from his body and its owner stepped out of the shadows, ready to claim another life, if not all the lives present.

**Next Time On Mad World: **The fate of two crater occupants has been left untold. One of them will be discovered next time. Also, how are Yuffie and Rakunya faring, traipsing through a strange continent as Rakunya has lost a lot of blood? And what of my two favorite villains, Rufus and the mystery man? What fates befell them? All of these answered in the next chapter!


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:** Another chapter already? I'm on a roll! Actually, I've already written through 14, so you'll be getting daily updates for a while now. I hope you all enjoy. We're continuing with this idea of necessary filler and set up, but its starting to get interesting as certain loose ends tie up and others unravel.

Chapter 9

Garnet floated helplessly, barely able to move. It had taken her last ounce of strength to cling to a piece of the wrecked airship, but where she had gone since then it was impossible to say. She had even lost track of how long she'd been floating and had relatively given up on the idea of being rescued. She was sure that she would be eaten by some sort of sea beast while she was out there.

Instead, however, she saw a ship come past her. She weakly called out for help, but she figured they had stopped more because they had seen her rather than having heard her. A ladder fell down the side of the ship, and two men in uniform swam out to rescue her. It took both of them to drag her up the ladder; she had been weakened by the attack, and hence was dead weight.

"Are you alright?" she heard a voice ask.

"Y-Yeah," she replied shakily. She coughed and struggled to stand, finally satisfying herself with just sitting up. "Where am I?"

"We're somewhere between Dollet and Balamb," the voice explained. "You're lucky we found you, miss. We just happened to be returning from a reconnaissance mission. Must've been fate that the timing lined up."

She looked up, allowing both of them to get a good look at each other for the first time. She didn't recognize the cowboy, though something about the way he carried himself made her realize that he was probably important, or at least thought that he was. He, however, recognized her immediately; he may never have met her, but he would never forget a face, especially one as pretty as hers.

"Queen Garnet!" he exclaimed suddenly. He bowed, removing his hat; Garnet couldn't tell if he thought this was proper to do for a Queen or if he was just continuing his gentlemanly air. She may have still been young and not know much about the world, but she had hung out with Zidane long enough that she knew the cowboy was hitting on her, even if he was doing a poor job at it. "What are you doing floating out in the ocean?" he asked suddenly, his tone becoming more serious, if only slightly.

She coughed up some seawater. _How long was I out there?_ "I…I was in the Crater in the North," she said weakly. "We met up with a SeeD mission…we were all investigating Jenova…we were attacked…"

"Attacked?" Irvine said suddenly, his tone becoming more serious. "Was it another Jenova?"

Garnet shook his head. "I'd never seen him before. He had long, silver hair, and he wore a long black coat. His sword…it was so long…I've never seen anything like it." _Probably because I'm always stuck in the castle_, she grimly admitted to herself. Now was not the time to ponder it, though. "One of the SeeDs called him…Sephiroth, I think."

The cowboy thought for a moment. "I've never heard of him," he finally admitted, not happy that he was going to sound ignorant in front of her. "We're headed back to Garden…maybe Squall knows something."

_So this is a SeeD ship_, she though. _Then he must be talking about Squall Leonhart. I hope he knows something. He's always been willing to help before…and at the least he'll want to find the other SeeDs…maybe he'll help me find Zidane._

"Well, it's still a good half-hour at full speed back to Balamb, so why don't you get some rest?" the cowboy offered. "By the way," he added, bowing again, more slightly this time, "my name is Irvine."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Irvine."

"Oh no, I assure you, the pleasure is all mine."

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Yuffie was disappointed. Where most of the continents had lush, rolling greens beyond their shores, this one seemed to be barren. The rocky terrain was doing nothing to improve either her mood or Rakunya's condition, and indeed he seemed to be growing weaker by the second. She, too, was staggering, but that was more from the effort of trying to drag around Rakunya than anything else.

Rakunya leaned into her slightly more for support, careful not to let any more of his weight rest on her. He knew that she was tiring, and he knew that he was too heavy for her to support him for much longer. She may have been strong, but hers was the strength of a ninja; ninjas were unaccustomed to carrying injured men around on their backs.

"Thank you," he said suddenly, breaking the silence of their journey.

She shifted uncomfortably under his weight, trying to reposition it a little and make it easier to hold. "For what?"

"For being here…for helping me off the beach…for offering to find help for me…"

"It's nothing," she insisted. Why was he suddenly getting like this?

"Maybe," he sighed. "But it means a lot to me anyway." He felt his eyes start to grow heavy, and he looked over at his arm. Despite Yuffie's best efforts, it was still bleeding, even if much more slowly. He knew that he couldn't survive all of the blood loss, and he knew that it would be over long before Yuffie could manage to drag him to a town. "Never blame yourself," he whispered.

She was too startled by his remark to say anything as they walked past a forest. Realizing that the only way away from the forest led to the beach, she limped forward with Rakunya still at her side. She looked at her friend and saw in his eyes that he was dying, and he knew it.

"No," she whispered, almost involuntarily. "We'll make it, Rakunya. Just stay with me till we pass this forest. There has to be something on the other side. "You can do it, Rakunya. Just hold on a little longer."

He looked at her, a smile on his face. "I'll stay as long as I can," he said. "But we both know that I can't promise much."

They walked on in silence, mostly because Yuffie didn't want to think about Rakunya dying. They had been great friends for far too long. She pushed herself, forcing herself to go faster, promising that she would do everything in her power to save him.

Eventually, though, she found herself needing to rest. Understanding, Rakunya eased himself off of her to sit next to a large tree. He wasn't sure how much longer he would last; part of him knew that this was his final resting place. _You always did like the woods,_ he thought grimly.

Yuffie sat next to him, tears forming in her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said at last. "I just couldn't go on."

"Take as much time as you need, Yuffie."

She cursed under her breath. Of all the days not to have a phone…Cid could've found them on the beach. She may have hated flying, but it would've been worth it to save her friend.

"Even if this is it for me, Yuffie, just know that I'll never blame you. You did all that you could."

Yuffie shook her head furiously, the tears coming easier now. "Don't talk like that, Rakunya. You're going to make it. You're strong. You'll make it, even if by the skin of your teeth."

He smiled as he looked at her. "I thought you hated clichés," he said weakly.

She threw her arms around him. "Don't go, Rakunya," she whispered in his ear. "I can't lose you."

With all the strength he could manage, he raised his arms and hugged her back. "I'll hold on," he said, although he wasn't sure that he entirely believed himself. "I'll try just a little longer for you."

"I'm sorry," she cried. "I'm sorry that I couldn't get you to a town in time. I'm sorry I didn't have the Full-Cure Materia on me today. I'm sorry I couldn't tie your arm better. I'm…"

He pulled back and put a finger to her lips. "If these are our last moments, I don't want them filled with apologies. None of this is your fault, Yuffie. Besides, even if you had Full-Cure, there's no guarantee that it would've worked. This is from Sephiroth's sword; you yourself said that wounds from his sword were a special case."

"It would've been better than nothing," she whispered. _It can't end like this…_

She called out for help, even though she knew that no one could hear her in the woods. Three times she cried, each time more exasperated, part of her hoping that despite the odds, somebody would actually come through this desolate place before it was too late.

At last she finally laid her head down on Rakunya's good shoulder and lay quietly in his arms, still crying. "Don't go," she whispered several times. "Please, don't go."

He slowly began unconsciously stroking her hair, as much a way to keep himself calm as to keep her calm. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I'm sorry it had to end like this."

She looked up at him and saw that he, too, was crying now. "What do you have to be sorry for?" she asked. "You can't blame yourself for this."

"At least," he admitted after a brief pause, "I got to spend my last minutes with you."

Those words made Yuffie break down and bawl into his shoulder, still chanting "Don't go!" She had never pictured anything like this, never thought that she would be there to witness Rakunya's last moments, especially not in the middle of the woods.

"Listen," he said after a short while as Yuffie calmed down from her hysterics. "I have a favor to ask."

"Anything," she told him, and for once she actually meant it.

"I don't care where I'm buried. I don't even care if you send people in here after my body. There is one thing, though…I think somebody's coming. I want you to go to the nearest town with them. Contact anyone you think needs to know that Sephiroth is alive. Maybe I'm feeling vengeful, but I want him stopped. Also…tell Selphie what happened."

She almost raised an eyebrow to this, but she decided not to say anything. "I know it probably seems like an odd request, but if there was anyone that I could be with in my dying moments, she's the only other one that I would've chosen. Please, tell her, ok?"

Yuffie nodded. "Hold on, Rakunya," she begged. "If you can stay just a little while longer, maybe whoever's coming can take you to a town, a hospital, somewhere where you can be healed. You don't have to die here."

"Maybe not," Rakunya said as he began to slip into unconsciousness. He saw the stranger that he had mentioned walk up behind Yuffie in surprise, but he could no longer make out any features. "Good luck," he whispered.

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"What are you doing?" the man demanded as the stranger impaled another one of his associates. "I still need them!"

The other turned to the one who dared speak out against him. "You need nothing," he growled. "I, however, need this facility. It shall make a convenient waiting place."

"Waiting won't help you get what you're after!" the man shouted as another of his associates was slain.

The man stopped suddenly, blade pointed at the man who had spoken to him for a second time. "How do you know what I want?"

"I know everything about this new world," the man chuckled, sitting back down. "To include you, Sephiroth."

Sephiroth flicked his sword in warning, moving it closer to the defiant fool. One of his flunkies tried to stop him but he was soon silenced.

"Now is that really necessary? It's getting annoying."

Sephiroth thought otherwise. To him, it was _this_ man who was annoying, this man who insisted upon being calm and defiant in the face of death, yet at the same time…Sephiroth could not bring himself to kill this man. He knew that this man still had something to tell him, something important. "What are you hiding?" he growled.

"The way to extract what you need from Northern Crater without awakening the Weapons," the man laughed. Sephiroth hesitated, then lowered his blade and nodded, showing that he was willing to help. The man laughed, pleased with himself that it had been that easy to turn Sephiroth from a wild card to an ace that he could keep hidden dangerously up his sleeve.

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"Who hired you?" Rufus demanded of the assassin.

"You're in no position to make demands," the assassin growled.

"Nor are you," Rufus said with a slight smile.

The words hadn't even finished leaving his lips when the assassin fell over, twitching. Reno swung the rod to his shoulder and smiled, quite pleased that he had managed to save Rufus's life from a clearly dangerous assassin.

"Good work, Reno," Rufus nodded.

"What should I do with him, boss?" Reno wondered, poking at the twitching body.

"Throw him in a holding cell for questioning. We need to find out where he came from. Oh, and Reno?" he added as an afterthought. "Next time, the power doesn't need to be quite so high."

**Next Time on Mad World:** Who was the stranger, and did it matter for Rakunya and Yuffie? Also, more on Selphie, Kuja, and Zidane, and another character joins our huge cast. At this rate, it'll be like a bad soap opera, and I'll go over budget and have to start killing people off!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"So you met at Odine's laboratory, huh? Odd that Squall would let his sorceress there unsupervised."

Immediately, Rinoa was taken aback by the fact that Cloud also knew that she was a sorceress. All she knew about him was that he worked with a group known as AVALANCHE when Sephiroth was still around. She also knew that he somehow knew the unconscious Vincent lying beside them. "Yeah," she finally said. "I'm still surprised that I met him there. What was _he_ doing?"

"Getting answers," Cloud said simply. When this didn't suffice, he added, "Odine's fingers are in more pots than we like. Vincent was going to find out just how many pots that was."

Vincent stirred suddenly, startling Rinoa. He rolled over and sat up. "I see you made it in time to save Rinoa, Cloud." He looked around. "The dragon?"

Cloud seemed puzzled, but Rinoa nodded. "Tiamat is dead. You managed to kill him."

Vincent shook his head. "No," he said firmly. "Not me. I am sorry that you had to see that."

"What was that, anyway?" Rinoa asked.

Cloud looked at Vincent, wondering if he should explain, or, for that matter, if Vincent would explain; Cloud never felt fully satisfied with the story he had been given. Instead Vincent turned his head. "It's not important right now." He looked at Cloud's motorcycle. "Can you take Rinoa to the Forgotten Forest? I will meet you both there."

Cloud nodded, but Rinoa looked unsure. "Don't worry about him," Cloud said as he leapt onto Fenrir. "He has ways of getting around. Are you coming?"

Reluctant and hesitant, though at the same time trusting what Squall had told her of this Cloud, she leapt on behind him and clutched him tightly as he drove off.

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"Welcome back, Irvine," Quistis said formally. "I presume the mission went well?"

"Of course!" Irvine said. "Why wouldn't it? I was in charge!"

"That doesn't…" Quistis began, but she stopped short when she saw the young women in white robes who was standing next to Irvine. "Is that…Queen Garnet?"

Irvine nodded. "She's going to be a guest of honor as I go and report to Squall, if you don't mind."

Quistis sighed. "Just what Squall needs, more bad news. He just found out about Rinoa's plan to visit Dr. Odine…"

"Did she already go?"

Quistis nodded. "Still, if you have Queen Garnet with you, I'm sure it's important, so hurry yourselves up the elevator."

Without another word, Irvine led Garnet to the elevator and pressed the third button, followed by a key combination. "Special permission," he winked at Garnet. She knew he was trying to impress her, but she had already figured out that it would take special permission to just go and see the head of SeeD; in her mind his position made him a lot like her or her uncle, the regent Cid.

They entered his office. Squall looked up from his desk, immediately annoyed to see Irvine. _I can't imagine _why_ Irvine might annoy him_, Garnet thought sarcastically. Before saying anything, though, Squall saw Garnet and immediately stood, more out of surprise than respect, Garnet guessed.

"Queen Garnet!" he said suddenly.

"Please, Squall," she said. "You know I hate formalities."

Squall sat down and looked at Irvine. "Stay quiet and let her talk," Squall said, his tone almost a warning. "We'll get to your report later." He turned back to Garnet. "What's wrong?"

"Well," she said. "I hate to be the one to tell you, but I think that you may have lost many valuable SeeDs on the mission to the Crater in the North."

Squall's eyes widened. Not only had he sent several SeeDs on the mission, but Selphie and Rakunya as well. If they had died on this mission…"What happened?"

"I met with them in the Crater; we were all looking for Jenova, it seemed. Instead, we found Sephiroth."

She proceeded to recount the highlights of the battle. As she did, Squall felt a part of him die. _Selphie, Rakunya,_ he thought. _Where are you? Did you survive? What if neither of you make it back?_

As Garnet finished her story, Squall looked closely at Irvine. "Gather every available SeeD," he said firmly. "If what Garnet said is true, then only two of the SeeDs from the mission are alive, and we can't even guarantee that. Tell them that they are on a manhunt for Rakunya and Selphie. Now is not the time," he added as Irvine involuntarily grimaced at Selphie's name. "I know that the break-up has been hard on both of you, but she still needs to be found. Once you have done that, gather the old crew." Irvine raised an eyebrow, and Squall nodded. "We're going after Sephiroth."

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Selphie sighed. While she was glad to have the company, she was growing tired of Zidane, who, despite his injury, insisted on walking beside her and recounting all of his past with Kuja. Perhaps in better circumstances she would be interested, but she couldn't help but shake the feeling that something had happened to Rakunya. Where had he ended up? Was he alive?

Kuja seemed to take note of her general disinterest with Zidane and apparent mode of deep thought. "It's your partner, isn't it?" he asked sympathetically, cutting Zidane off.

She paused a moment, then nodded slowly. "I'm worried about him, that's all," she said softly.

She almost shook her head in disbelief. What was this? She had never let herself get down like this, not even when Galbadia had destroyed Trabia Garden. She always maintained at the least a happy visage, even if just a weak one. The death of a friend, though, seemed to be hitting her much harder than she had expected.

"Oh yeah," Zidane said as if suddenly remembering. "Rakunya was with you wasn't he? I wonder how he is…" His voice trailed off. Suddenly, he shrugged and kept on walking.

Selphie shot a glare at Zidane and had to hold back a growl. How _dare_ he treat this so lightly! He was supposed to be Rakunya's friend, too, and it was if he didn't even care about what happened. Kuja also launched a death glare at his brother. He may not have known much about Selphie's partner, but a comrade that had fallen in battle was nothing to mock.

Kuja laughed internally at himself, not changing his external appearance. What a change had come over him! The incident with the Crystal had given him an entirely new outlook on life. The old him never would've worried about the death of a "comrade" unless he had something to gain from it, and what would he have to gain from a death he didn't cause? That was the old Kuja, however. He had desired redemption, and while perhaps still arrogant in his assumption, he believed that he was well along the path to such redemption.

"How can you take this so lightly, Zidane?" Kuja asked. "I had assumed that he was your friend."

Zidane shrugged again. "I made it out alive," he said confidently. When this didn't satisfy, he explained, "Look, I know Rakunya, and if I can make it through with a gash like this on my back, he certainly survived."

Both of them seemed to accept his explanation, but at the same time they were both clearly fed up with his way of handling things. _And your gash isn't even that deep,_ Selphie thought bitterly. _Ugly, but not deep. Rakunya was closer to the blast than any of us_. She mentally stuck her tongue out at Zidane for being so perky when even she couldn't manage to do it.

She shook her head. _Get a grip, Selphie. You have to focus on yourself now. You have to survive. The people around you have to survive. We need to get to a town. Once we do, then we can worry about Rakunya. No, stop thinking about him. You have to focus on_ you_. You have to focus on making it to the next town, no matter how far away it is on foot. You have to stop thinking about him._ She sighed. _So why is it so hard?_

Kuja suddenly held up a hand. "I smell smoke," he said nonchalantly.

_All right, admit it,_ he thought. _You haven't changed that much. Part of you is still a bit excited about the burning town, even if it is wrong…and wasn't started by Bahamut…or you…_

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"Zidane?" he asked, barely conscious and not realizing how this could be possible.

"No," she said, shaking her head and making Rakunya's mistake obvious. "But we do look a lot alike," she added, her tone making it obvious that she was trying to make him feel not as bad about the mistake. "My name is Mikoto."

Rakunya tried to sit up, but he immediately felt sick, as if he was being thrown through a vortex. "Calm down," Mikoto said sweetly. "You still haven't recovered completely. You lost a lot of blood. The doctor still isn't sure how you survived."

"What's going on?" he asked. He weakly waved his hand. "Forget that, where's Yuffie?"

"We made her get some rest," a new voice offered from beside him. As his eyes focused, he saw that the new figure had distinct rat features, most especially the face and tail. She walked over to his bed and kneeled next to him. "You probably don't remember me, Rakunya, but I was the one at the bar whom you interrupted to surprise Zidane."

Rakunya thought back, or at the very least, he tried. It had been a while ago, and he still wasn't completely together, but he seemed to remember surprising Zidane in a bar in Alexandria at least. He did remember a rat face, and as he looked at her again, the clothes did seem familiar, but her name…

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I don't remember your name."

"Don't worry about it, we met in passing. I'm Freya Crescent. Are you up to answering a few questions?"

"I want…to see Yuffie," he said firmly, or rather as firmly as his weak state could manage.

Freya sighed. "She's resting right now. On the other hand, the three of us who are in here would like some answers."

Rakunya sighed. Even with his mind just coming back together, he realized that he had no choice but to comply, but he had something that they wanted apparently, and he was going to get as much cooperation with it as he could.

"If you aren't up to it…" a third voice offered, "…it could wait until tomorrow. The day is beginning to grow weary as it is, and I, for one, have had a long journey."

Rakunya lifted his head as much as he could for as long as he could, and the third sight almost made him immediately refuse to talk to them until the next day. "Do you have a beak and a top hat?" he asked the voice. He assumed that this was the doctor that Mikoto had mentioned, as Freya had the distinct appearance of a fighter.

The doctor nodded. "The name's Dr. Tot, and I do indeed have a beak and a top hat," he said, sounding quite amused.

_At least I'm not seeing things, _he thought. "All right, I'll talk, but I want answers, too. First of all, how am I alive?"

Dr. Tot shrugged. "I'm still not certain of that myself. You're the first patient that I've had in years. I only practiced in that field briefly, and only to further my knowledge, but when your friend heard Freya refer to me as 'Dr.', she immediately demanded that I do something to save you. She even grew violent about it, despite threats from Freya. So, with some quick thinking, we used some of Freya's dragoon magic to keep you alive long enough for us to bring you here.

"Even then it was risky. You'd lost a lot of blood, and if you were to be kept alive you needed more. Yuffie immediately offered herself for the emergency transfusion, but that didn't change the risk. We had no idea if your body would accept the treatment and if you would make it until you woke up, but it seems like between that and some powerful white magic, you've done quite well."

Rakunya was baffled by it still, but in the part of his mind that was still rational it made sense. "Next question: When can I see Yuffie?"

Dr. Tot gave a hearty laugh. "I'm afraid even after the procedure, your friend refused to leave your side. She needed rest, we could all tell that. Eventually, we had Vivi cast a potent Sleep spell on her. We sent him to go see what he could do about waking her up the moment you stirred. We haven't heard back from him, so perhaps the spell was a little more potent than we had anticipated. May we ask our questions now?"

Rakunya was still in no mood to answer questions; all he wanted to do was see Yuffie. Somewhere in his mind, he still believed himself to be dead, and seeing Yuffie would rectify that. He knew that she hadn't been mortally wounded during the fight. If she was alive, so was he. He nodded.

"Good," the doctor said. "Vivi, a Black Mage friend of Zidane's was here asking Mikoto about Jenova; apparently there was one outside of Alexandria; I wouldn't know, I was in Kalm at the time, taking a much deserved vacation. When I returned, however, Freya sought me out for the same reasons. Unfortunately, neither of us new much, just legends that had come with the merger of the worlds. Mikoto knew of Jenova's more 'recent' appearances in conjunction with Sephiroth, but I myself had heard tales of a being long ago by the same name. What, Rakunya, do you know?"

Rakunya sighed. "You're both right," he said weakly. "Yuffie knows more than I do; she's from that world. I guess, though, that Jenova came to the Planet over a thousand years ago, destroying an ancient race of people known as the Cetra. It had wanted to destroy everything, but the last of the Cetra sacrificed themselves in order to seal the creature in what is now the Northern Crater.

"Years later, Shinra scientists discovered the creature; one was even so bold as to move it to the metropolis of Midgar. Shinra then began several experiments with Jenova, one of which led to Sephiroth." His mind suddenly clicked. "Sephiroth!" he "shouted"; it still wasn't much, but the sudden presence of his voice shocked the others in the room.

"Is something wrong?" Freya asked him.

"Sephiroth is back," Rakunya said. "We fought him in the Northern Cave."

"Back?" Dr. Tot asked curiously.

"I thought he was dead," Mikoto mused, wondering if Rakunya was delusional.

"He was," Rakunya assured her. "Cloud killed him. In fact, Cloud killed him twice. Everything you heard about him being dead was true, but he's back."

There was a knock at the door. "Um…she's awake," a timid voice told them.

Dr. Tot nodded. "We'll have to see what we can do about alerting proper people in the morning. For now, you may see Yuffie, and then I insist that the two of you get some sleep."

The moment the company around him left, he felt Yuffie wrap her arms tightly around him, at which point he let out a yelp of pain, at which point Yuffie leapt back and began a stream of apologies. In her haste, she had hit his damaged, and, from what Rakunya could gather, hastily stitched arm.

"It's ok," he said softly. "I'm just glad that you're here."

"I can't believe you're finally awake! It's about time all that white magic did something for you!" Rakunya raised an eyebrow, so Yuffie explained, "That girl with that tail was casting all sorts of Cure and Life spells on you, anything to get you to come around. They wanted you to wake up so that they could be sure that you'd be all right."

"Hope they did everything right in their rush," Rakunya scoffed. As much as he enjoyed being alive, and as much as he appreciated the fact that he would likely be on his feet in a day or two, he knew that he wouldn't be completely healed for a long time, and he'd be more susceptible to similarly fatal wounds.

Yuffie misread these concerns as sarcasm, and she seemed ecstatic that he was already feeling good enough to be sarcastic. "I told you you'd make it," she said suddenly.

Rakunya chuckled a little. "Guess I should've believed you," he said. "Now I hope you don't mind, but I'm really tired…"

Yuffie sighed. "Alright, alright, I'll let you get some sleep," she smiled. "But tomorrow I'm waking you up early!"

Rakunya sighed as she left. His brush with death had made it painfully clear how much he cared about her, but even so, part of him still didn't want to believe it. He tried to brush it off as being a part of the moment, but he knew that that was a lie. _No_, he corrected himself. _Not a complete lie. But you'll have to face the facts someday. You care about her._

There was still another nagging voice in his head, one that remembered Selphie and wondered how she was doing. He had grown close to his SeeD companion as well, and he knew that someday he'd find himself torn between the two of them. Hopefully, that day wouldn't come soon. He wasn't ready to admit his feelings for either of them, let alone decide between the two.

Yet another voice scolded him for his feelings. _Now isn't the time to dwell on feelings_, he thought as he drifted into sleep. _Maybe someday. But for now, you have to learn to ignore them. You can't afford feelings right now…_

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**Author's Note:** Yes, at the end this time, so that I didn't spoil Rakunya's survival. When I wrote Chapter 9, I honestly didn't know if I was going to kill him or not. I hadn't originally pictured the wound as leading to fatal blood loss but...Gollum's Song started playing, and depressing music does things to my writing. Fortunately for any fans of him out there, I changed tracks for Chapter 10 and let him live. There's other reasons, too, but you'll see those later.

**Next Time on Mad World:** Our next Final Fantasy character is introduced, playing a cameo supporting role for now, but like all of my cameos, this character will become VERY important later. Kuja shows off how much (and how little) he has changed, and a collaboration of minds gives insight to the crater incident. We also revisit Rinoa, Vincent, Cloud, and the two characters that are most fun to write for, Sephiroth and "Mystery Man".

Note: there will be SEVERAL times that I will offer cameos, mostly because I'd like to have a couple more OCs. The first is ongoing, and while I don't expect anyone to actually guess for a while (especially not guess right), I still offer it: The first person to guess who the mystery man is gets a cameo! I've mentioned this before, but I thought I'd like to reiterate it.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Selphie sniffed the air, and she realized that she, too, smelled smoke. She wondered how far away it was when her train of thought was interrupted by a large, orange beast that ran in front of them.

"Back away," the thing said. "Kalm has already been evacuated. There's no need to get any closer."

Zidane went to argue, but Kuja chuckled slightly. "Of course not," he assured the beast. Manipulation had been part of his trade, and he knew that if he let Zidane handle things, this beast would never take them where they needed to go. "But we certainly aren't turning around, either."

"What do you want?" the creature asked, eyeing Kuja curiously.

"For one, I'd like to know how the fire got started," Kuja smiled, his eyes darting carefully over to the beast's tail. He knew that if he had let Zidane handle it, the tail would've been the first thing mentioned, but Kuja didn't want the flame directly mentioned at all. He wanted to subtly make the beast think that they suspected him; it could prove to be a useful bartering token later.

The creature ignored his glance. "We're still looking into it," he said with no change of tone present in his voice.

"Oh really?" Kuja said. He noticed Selphie's demeanor change, and as he had come to same conclusion that she likely had, he decided it was best to hurry up so that this conclusion was not made known. The beast would certainly refuse help if he thought that the fire was caused by someone expecting them.

"Let me cut to the chase," Kuja said, still smiling the same smile he had worn in the old days. "We need to be taken to a town, and since you seem to know this area so well, and the nearest town was so _conveniently_ burned down…"

The creature pointed. "Midgar is less than a day's journey that way." For a brief second, Kuja lost his calmer appearance, letting show that something wasn't right, and in that brief moment, he saw the beast smile. The beast had been playing the game as well as he had. "I can take you there if you give me your names, at the very least."

Kuja bowed, more a sign of mockery than respect. "I am Kuja. The associate to my right is Zidane. The other is…"

"Selphie Tilmitt, a SeeD," she said, glaring at Kuja. "Your way takes too long, and we need answers. Even in Midgar, SeeD gives me certain connections."

"That it does," the creature nodded. He had suspected this whole time that the man before him had been taking a roundabout path to get what he wanted, but it had only served to throw suspicion on him. "I am known in these parts as Red XIII, or Red for short. As long as we are dropping names, I am a member of AVALANCHE."

They walked for nearly an hour in silence before Selphie said, "Mr. Red?"

"Just Red, if you don't mind."

"Sure. You said you were with AVALANCHE?"

Red nodded. "I wouldn't say I'm necessarily a card carrying member, but I was with them when Sephiroth was defeated."

The final recognition of AVALANCHE clicked with Selphie. "Sephiroth isn't dead!" she exclaimed.

Red stopped moving, causing Zidane to nearly run into him. Kuja grabbed Selphie's shoulder and pulled her back. "Is this the best time?" Kuja asked. "We have no proof of his story, or of ours for that matter. Shouldn't we at least wait until we've met the rest of his group?"

"That's impossible," Red growled.

Selphie shook her head. "What's impossible is that we ended up near Midgar. We thought that we were just thrown out of the Crater, not teleported away."

"Prove it."

To everyone's surprise, it was Zidane who came up with the proof. He spun around and pointed to the large gash on his back. "That was done by Sephiroth's sword. It isn't deep, but we still need to get me to Midgar to get it treated. Any more questions?"

"Yes," Red nodded as he began walking again. "What were you doing at the Northern Cave?"

"Investigating Jenova," Kuja explained, resigned to follow Selphie's open honesty. "I'm sure you heard about the three attacks." To this, Red nodded, so Kuja continued. "Zidane and I were travelling with two others. We met briefly with President Rufus Shinra, hoping that he would have some answers. Any that he did have were hidden from us, however, and he suggested that we go to the Northern Cave…" His voice trailed off. Rufus knew.

"That bastard," Kuja said suddenly, anger uncharacteristically consuming him. "Nobody fools Kuja."

"Don't jump to conclusions," Selphie said as Red nodded at Kuja's guesses. "Don't forget, Rufus hired SeeD to investigate the Crater for him as well."

"Perhaps he knew nothing," Red admitted. "However, I suspect that even if he wasn't trying to kill you, Rufus knew that Sephiroth was in the Crater. At the very least, he expected you to find a Remnant."

"A Remnant?" Zidane asked. "You mean like a piece of Jenova?"

"Indirectly. The Remnants roamed our world shortly before the merger. They were fragments of Sephiroth's will, manifested on the Planet to carry out Jenova's will. Perhaps Rufus assumed that one of them would be found in the Crater when you entered. At the least, if he hired SeeD, he was expecting a battle."

Calmer, Kuja thought back to the conversation they had with the President. He was annoyed at their presence, but he had not seemed to be murderous; vaguely curious was the best way to describe his mood. Kuja had noticed only one change in Rufus. It was during the introductions, when Eiko had introduced herself as the last summoner of Madain Sari…

"Rufus had a hand," he reaffirmed. "But he didn't want us dead. Sephiroth himself was the surprise. Red XIII is right; if Rufus hired SeeD, then he must've been expecting a fight. He didn't expect Sephiroth himself, however. He expected something that SeeD could handle. One that was in our midst had introduced herself to Rufus as 'the last summoner from Madain Sari'…"

Zidane's head turned and fists clenched with realization. "He wanted to kidnap Eiko during the fight!"

"He had probably radioed the instructions to the pilot of the Shinra airship the SeeDs had used to get to the crater." He laughed suddenly. "Rufus Shinra, you are a clever man," he chuckled.

"Good thing we're more clever," Zidane chirped.

Red simply rolled his eyes. "We're here," Red said, pointing to a small building at the outskirts of the city."

"This?" Zidane said suddenly, his tone changing to something resembling disgust. "_This_ is your headquarters?"

"It's where we stop," Red said. "Tifa will be here; she's watching the place while a…_friend_…of ours investigates Shinra from the inside."

"If he's on the inside, he should be able to get better housing," Zidane mocked.

"Much of Shinra's property was destroyed. Even some of the executives live out here, at least until the main city is rebuilt. Perhaps Rufus should have seen to that before restoring his tower…"

Red knocked on the door, and a woman answered. "Hey, Red," she smiled. She looked at the crew behind him. "Friends of yours?"

"Welcome nonetheless," Red said. "May we come in?"

The moment Tifa shut the door, Red's tone changed. "Call Cloud," he demanded.

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Cloud sighed as he hung up his phone, then called Vincent. "We're making a detour," Cloud said. He heard Rinoa whisper the word in disbelief, but he ignored it. "Meet us in Midgar."

"What detour?" Rinoa demanded again as he hung up the phone.

"It shouldn't take long," he said. "We need to stop at Midgar. We aren't far from there now; that's where these tracks lead first. It shouldn't take long. Once we're done there, you can have your…meeting…with Vincent."

Cloud was right, it hadn't taken long for them to get there; at most, Rinoa guessed, they had been driving for a half-hour, despite the fact that the sun was almost set. Cloud walked inside as Rinoa waited by the door, but she changed her mind the instant she saw:

"Selphie? What are you doing here?"

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"You should've just killed them, Sephiroth."

He laughed. "What difference does it make to you? Besides, I thought you wanted them all together."

"If you lead them here before I'm ready…"

"Don't worry. You have your plan, I have mine."

The man scowled at Sephiroth. "I can't have you die, Sephiroth. I still need you."

"Who said anything about dying?"

"Twice, Sephiroth, and if this makes three…"

Sephiroth tensed angrily and glared at his new "partner". "I learned my lesson last time. I was toying with Cloud. I hadn't expected the need for more than that. I was wrong. Besides," he added, smiling into the shadows, "if something goes wrong, I have a backup plan, something you still lack."

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"You're lying," Cloud said simply. "Sephiroth is dead."

Selphie shook her head. "Why would we lie to you, Cloud? We saw Sephiroth in Northern Crater!"

"Perhaps they are correct, Cloud," Vincent said, not moving from his shadowed position in the corner. "Perhaps Sephiroth is alive again as a byproduct of the merger."

Cloud shook his head. "He would've done something by now."

"Then some other way. Think, Cloud. He survived the fatal attack in Nibelheim. He came back from the dead two years after the incident in the Northern Cave. Did he not say that he would return?"

A sudden silence fell over the room. Until then, Cloud had assumed that he was the only one who knew what Sephiroth had said in his final moments; the others in the room were clueless at the very least. He should've known that Vincent wasn't so clueless.

Cloud nodded. "You four can rest here for the night. We're investigating this in the morning."

**Author's Note: **I know, I know, more filler. All of it is necessary set up, trust me. Don't forget the little button that says "Submit Review"!

**Next Time on Mad World: **Most of the loose ends to the Crater survivors are tied up, and we have our next highly important Cameo appearance. Believe me when I say that fans of CHARACTER NAME IS CENSORED TO PROTECT THE PLOT will not be disappointed by GENDER CENSORED FOR SAME REASON role in the story.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note:** Well, it's time to begin the happy "endings". No Next Time section todday, seeing as the next chapter is basically a fluid continuation of this one, broken up for length reasons. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy. Chapter 13 tomorrow!

Chapter 12

True to her word, Yuffie had sprung into Rakunya's room quite early to wake him up, and while he refused to show it, part of him was glad; no matter how early it was, at least it was a sign that he _could_ wake up. He threw his feet over the side of the bed and, in time, stood up.

"That sure was some potent white magic," he whistled. He hadn't expected such a full recovery. True, he was stiff, and he still wasn't the steadiest on his feet, but the point was that he was up.

Mikoto walked in to check on him. Her eyes widened immediately when she saw him standing; clearly she was impressed with her own abilities. Rakunya was suddenly struck with the urge to boost her ego.

"Congratulations," he said, the strength in his voice nearly returned. "Your white magic is impressive. It let me survive an attack from the blade of Sephiroth."

She smiled meekly. "Thank you."

"No, thank you," he insisted.

"I heard earlier that some SeeDs went missing…you wouldn't happen to be one of them, would you?"

He nodded, then held out his hand in introduction. "The name's Rakunya," he said politely. "I don't think I ever caught yours."  
"Mikoto," she said, accepting the handshake. "I contacted Balamb for you," she added, walking out the door.

Rakunya followed, then looked around. "How?" he asked.

Mikoto smiled. "The village itself may stay hidden from intruders and technology, but not far from here is the dwarven village of Condie Petie. I frequently go there, especially if I need to contact the outside world."

"So are they coming to get us or what?"

Mikoto nodded. "They put me through to the headmaster himself. I gave him your description, and he said it sounded like one the people he was looking for. He must know you quite well; he's coming out to get you himself."

Rakunya read her smile all to well. "Which is it; a hidden perk or a catch that you don't want to explain?"

"A perk," she laughed, a little surprised that he had guessed. She had wanted to leave that part as a surprise to him. "I was thinking about the time he said it would take him, and there's only one way for him to get here that fast: in his personal airship, the Ragnarok."

"Then it's a catch," Rakunya chuckled as he watched the color leave Yuffie's face. He had told her about the Ragnarok before. "Poor Yuffie gets airsick!"

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Rinoa hung up the phone. "Squall's on his way," she said happily.

Cloud nodded. "Did he say if SeeD is after Sephiroth as well?"

Rinoa shook her head. "Not SeeD," she said. She looked over at Selphie and added, "Us."

"What do you mean, 'us'?" Selphie demanded.

"As in you, me, Squall, and everybody else. This isn't a SeeD mission. It almost sounded like he wants to go in there personally."

Cloud looked at Tifa. "Call Cid," he said. "Have the Sierra ready by the time I get back."

"Get back?" she asked.

"I'm going to see Rufus, try to get some answers."

"Then you shall walk away disappointed," Kuja scolded.

Cloud's eyes focused on the effeminately clad sorcerer, and Kuja sighed and shook his head. "Whatever you get from Rufus shall be a partial truth; if you look deep enough, you may in fact find truth, but is it worth the lies that you must dig through to discover it?"

"The truth is worth everything," Vincent said, startling Zidane and Selphie. It seemed as though he had not moved since yesterday. "The question is: Can you guarantee that Rufus will even give you the courtesy of a half-truth?"

"We have to start somewhere," Cloud shrugged. "No one else would have any answers for us."

At that moment, Red XIII strode into the room. "Rufus won't be seeing you today," he growled. "It seems that he has declared war on Esthar."

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"Quicker than I expected, Squall."

Squall raised an eyebrow at Rakunya, looking him over and pausing on the bandage on his arm. "I could say the same thing," he said. "Mikoto told me that you weren't in great condition."

"I'm not," Rakunya chuckled. "I'm in passable condition. White magic does wonders, but I suppose I still won't be at full strength for a while."

"As long as you're in good enough shape to return to Garden."

Rakunya sighed. "Sir…" He thought of giving a report, but suddenly it seemed too formal. "Squall, Sephiroth is alive. I saw him. I _fought_ him. I was lucky enough to come out with just this cut, which was only fatal because we couldn't stop the blood loss. You know me, though…I have to tempt fate."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going after him, Squall. I know it seems a bit vengeful, but it's more than that. I…I just have to know. I have to know how he's alive, _why_ he's alive, and I feel that since I couldn't stop him the first time, I must at least try again."

Squall shook his head. "Don't worry about Sephiroth; I'm going after him myself. All of the Sorceress War veterans are going." Squall paused for a moment on that sentence. That was indeed what the world considered them, but Rakunya wasn't much younger than Squall; in fact, the boy was Selphie's age. Had he become a SeeD any sooner, he may have been one of the "veterans". It felt strange using the term with his friend, but he had grown accustomed to it, and he didn't have the time to ponder a new way to say it. "In the meantime, you'll need to heal."

Expecting the immediate fight that he knew was coming, he leaned closer to Rakunya and said, "Listen, normally I wouldn't do this, but I'll leave the Garden to you while I'm gone if you'll just go back."

Rakunya shook his head. "Honored that you trust me, Squall, but I won't take that from Xu. In the same way, don't take my chance at Sephiroth from me."

Squall sighed, thinking. "This is no ordinary SeeD mission."

"It may even be my last," Rakunya acknowledged. "But if it is, I'd like my last mission to be one that meant something."

Squall shook his head. "I shouldn't be doing this," he muttered. "There's got to be some sort of catch."

"Two little ones, actually," Rakunya smiled. "The first, Yuffie needs to come along." He tipped his head towards Yuffie to make sure Squall knew who he was talking about, but it seemed hardly necessary. While she hardly ever spoke of her past experiences in the field, she was still a member of AVALANCHE, the group who had faced Sephiroth twice, and Rakunya knew that Squall, as a "world leader", made it his business to know all of the members of AVALANCHE.

"And the other?" Squall asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm rather weaponless," Rakunya admitted sheepishly. "I lost my gunblade in the battle, and my pistol was destroyed. If the others are alive, then my katana rests with a man we met when we entered the crater."

"We're going to Midgar next," Squall nodded. "We can get you some weapons there."

They began heading out of town, but they were stopped by Freya. "This Sephiroth," she began. "How great of a threat is he truly? He was defeated twice before, was he not?"

"That doesn't change anything," Yuffie whispered. "It was bad enough having him around a second time. Who knows what'll happen now?"

Freya sighed, then grabbed her lance. "I must be going," she said.

"Good luck," Rakunya said suddenly. Freya stopped, unsure of what to do. "I know that you're looking for Zidane. I hope you find him."

Freya shook her head and walked off. Rakunya was, of course, right, but at the same time she was expecting a body more than a man. For her, the primary objective was returning to Sir Fratley. Together, they would be able to achieve endless information on Sephiroth, including how to exact revenge upon him.

The other three continued to Ragnarok, but Squall stopped just before they entered. "I should let you know that we have two additional…_guests_ aboard."

Rakunya could hardly stop himself from laughing when he saw what Squall was talking about. The obvious guest had been Queen Garnet; she had likely alerted Squall to the happenings in the Crater and wanted to tag along in hopes of finding Zidane. The other guest though…Rakunya had a hard time believing that he had come at all.

"Seifer?" Rakunya asked, as much a mockery as it was a statement of disbelief. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Shut it," Seifer growled.

"No, seriously, what _are_ you doing here?" Rakunya asked, his tone only slightly more serious. "Is Sephiroth just going to be another thrill kill for you?"

"I said SHUT IT!" Seifer demanded. "If I want to come along, I'll come along, and that's all there is to it!"

"Behave yourselves," Quistis said suddenly. "_Both_ of you," she added, sensing another retort from Rakunya.

Yuffie stepped on board timidly and rushed off to a corner, hoping to make it through the ride, and Squall followed her on. He sighed, knowing that Rakunya and Seifer had probably already gotten into it. Squall was still quite obviously at the top of Seifer's least favorite people, but if Zell wasn't second, Rakunya certainly was. The trip to Midgar would be quite short, but Squall was afraid that it could turn out to be the longest ten minutes of his life.

"Let's go."


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the wait. I was hoping to get caught up on writing before I posted this, but McDonalds had other plans...Anywho, enjoy!

**Chapter 13**

"Your ride is here," Tifa said with a smile.

Selphie burst out of the door, happy to see the Ragnarok parked a short distance away. Two figures came out of it, and she almost screamed when she saw the second one. She ran forward and threw her arms around Rakunya.

"I thought you were dead!" she said, tears on the verge of spilling over.

Rakunya hugged her back, carefully though awkwardly swinging his arm over her to avoid any further damage. "It's good to see you, too," he whispered. "I'm so glad that you're alive."

She pulled back and wiped away the tears that were forming. "What happened? How did you make it?"

"I almost didn't," he admitted. "Yuffie and I made it to the Black Mage Village, and they treated me there. What about you? I saw you get sliced at one point…"

"It looked worse than it was," she laughed. "I had Wall up…between that and my weapon catching most of his sword, I barely even got cut." She hugged him again. "Just think," she whispered. "We almost lost each other."

"Don't think about it," he whispered. "Just be glad that we're both alive. You'll need all the happiness you can muster," he muttered as an afterthought.

"Why?" she asked, pulling back and looking into his eyes as if searching for answers.

Rakunya sighed. "Squall's after Sephiroth. He collected the old fighting force to go after him. That means…"

Selphie sighed. "I'll be civil if he will," she said. Rakunya didn't entirely believe her, but he would have to accept it for now. They walked over to Squall who was already conversing with Cloud.

"It still doesn't seem possible," Cloud said, shaking his head in disbelief. "What could have brought Sephiroth back?"

"That's what we're hoping to find out," Squall admitted. "Hopefully a return trip to the Crater won't be in vain."

"It will be if you are unprepared," a shadowy voice offered.

Rakunya took note of this new voice for the first time, and immediately he wanted a new cape; not only was his torn, but this person's was far more impressive. The sun caught his golden claw, and Rakunya couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated. There was something else, too, that he just couldn't place. Something felt off about this man, as if he somehow wasn't human.

"We know what to expect," Rakunya told him. "Our last encounter gave rise to Sephiroth. Surely the Crater won't disappoint in that regard."

The figure made a noise, and Rakunya couldn't tell if it was a grunt of approval or a snort of disdain. "One can never be too certain."

"Then what do you propose we do?" Squall asked.

"There is nothing to be done except to arm yourself with knowledge," Vincent offered. "Your last encounter yielded Sephiroth. Fragments of Jenova were seen about the world. No one yet knows why the worlds merged in the first place."

"Are you suggesting that the three are related, Vincent?" Cloud asked suddenly.

Surprisingly, it was Rakunya who answered. "It makes sense, doesn't it? Sephiroth and Jenova appearing together, at least. I'm skeptical about blaming either for the merger of the worlds, though. Sephiroth was dead, and Jenova with him. Perhaps it's because of the merger of the worlds, not the other way around."

Hearing Rakunya's voice, Kuja stepped out of the building. "You are the SeeD that traveled with Selphie, correct?" After a brief nod, Kuja tossed the katana at his side towards Rakunya. Rakunya held out his hand and caught it, despite its odd angle, and swung it around into its hilt. "I do believe that sword to be yours."

Two others left the building as well, one of which Rakunya knew to be Zidane. "Freya's looking for you," Rakunya said. "Hard to say where she is now, but we saw her in the Black Mage Village."

Zidane sighed. "I wish I had a way to get to her…"

Hearing his voice, however, a teary Garnet came rushing at him and embraced him. "Zidane!"

Cloud led the others inside, where Tifa, Rinoa, and Red XIII still waited. Selphie half expected Squall to say something, but she knew that he'd just ask about her trip to Odine later and in private. "We need a plan of action," Squall said.

"Back to the Crater and show Sephiroth what we're made of!" Selphie said almost immediately.

It was Rakunya, not Cloud, who disagreed the most with this plan. "We're the only survivors of the SeeD mission, Selphie. The other SeeDs with us were nothing to mock, but Sephiroth tossed them aside like rag dolls, tossed _us_ aside like rag dolls. Even if we go back to the Crater, we have to know what we're doing."

"And yet the Crater is the most likely place to find answers," Vincent said. "We go, but we do not go to fight. We expect a fight, but we are willing to retreat if the fight arises. We are not ready to attack Sephiroth yet."

Squall raised an eyebrow. "We?"

Vincent simply nodded.

"We're going," Cloud said simply. "Everyone except for Kuja and Zidane. We've made arrangements for them to return to Alexandria. They decided that they needed to collect themselves and mentioned others who might know something. They also had another with them that they want to search for."

"So we have our backup plan if we can't retreat," Rakunya chuckled. "Almost makes me want to find Sephiroth; I'd love to see you fight him, Cloud."

"Be careful what you wish for," Vincent growled.

They walked out and stepped onto the Ragnarok, with Rakunya trailing slightly behind. "Take care of her, Zidane," he whispered to his friend.

"You're going after him again?" Zidane stared at his friend with wonder. He couldn't picture Rakunya doing something so reckless.

"Maybe I'm just tempting fate, but we do need answers."

Zidane fished something out of his pockets. Rakunya almost laughed when he saw a pistol. "Take this," he said.

"And why do you have a pistol, Zidane?"

Zidane laughed. "After they treated my back last night, I couldn't just lay around and do nothing…Well, one of the drunken locals thought I was suspicious. I took the gun from him to keep him from shooting me."

Rakunya sighed. "Normally, I wouldn't, Zidane…but I think that we'll need all the help we can get."

He stepped on the Ragnarok, and he saw that Squall was waiting for him. Everyone was scattered around the "main" chamber. He took his place beside Selphie and wondered where Yuffie was hiding.

He glanced around and saw that everyone was anticipating the upcoming trek into the Crater in their own way. Everyone except for Vincent, at the least, for Vincent was simply standing in a corner, reminding Rakunya of a vampire with his pale complexion and stance. Vincent still gave Rakunya chills, and he couldn't help but stare as he tried to contemplate the uneasy feeling that this man gave him.

"You'll get use to him," a voice behind him said, breaking his train of thought. "Give it time, and you won't mind how creepy he is."

"We're taking off soon, so you might want to go find your corner."

Yuffie laughed. "The ride on this thing is so smooth, I hardly got airsick at all!"

Selphie chuckled, being the only other one close enough to hear her. Rakunya would've, but for a brief second, he swore he had seen Vincent raise an eyebrow of interest in their direction.

"This is it," Squall said, cutting into the relative silence. "We're headed into the Northern Crater. We have no idea what we're going to find, but it won't be good. We could face anything from monsters to Jenova to Sephiroth. It's impossible to know what to expect. Everybody spend the trip preparing yourselves for anything."

His gaze turned to Selphie. "Are you ready?"

He had barely finished his sentence, and already Selphie was rushing towards the controls. He shook his head, wondering how she could always manage to be so happy, when Cloud walked over to him. "We need to talk."

Squall raised an eyebrow, but Cloud continued, almost without pause. "Rufus has declared war on Esthar. He had a public announcement on the radio this morning."

Squall couldn't help but drop his jaw slightly. Was Rufus truly that crazy? "On what grounds?"

"Something about an assassin, but I don't believe him," Cloud explained. "We'll need to do something about it after this, don't you think?"

Squall cursed internally. "I suppose," he said. "Let's see what this yields, first. Then we can worry about which, if either, side we're on."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Laguna slammed his fists down on his desk. "We can't deal with this now," he fumed. "The troops aren't ready or anything…why would Rufus do this?"

"His public statement said that we hired an assassin, but you already know what I think," Kiros informed him. Kiros had taken a disliking to Rufus Shinra before he had even spoken. Something about the way the man carried himself told Kiros that he was looking for a way to get something from everyone. What he wanted from Esthar was anybody's guess, but Kiros had assumed that he simply wanted Esthar.

Ward raised his spear, an awkward gesture in his formal attire, but Kiros nodded nonetheless. "If it comes to it," he said, "we will fight for Esthar."

Laguna shook his head, having no idea what to do. Why did Rufus want a war? They both came from civilized times; weren't they beyond war? What was left for him to do? Esthar's military, while still powerful, had nowhere near the size of Shinra's army, and he had always wondered if Esthar's technology could put up with SOLDIER's skills.

"I guess all that we can do is call SeeD," he sighed dejectedly.

Kiros shook his head. "We already tried; we wanted to make sure Squall knew what was going on, but he's out on a mission right now. Xu didn't have any details, she just said that it had to do with Sephiroth."

Laguna fumed for a minute, then looked up at Kiros. "Keep contacting people. Any nation you can think of that might help us fight against Shinra is a potential ally. We need all the support we can get."

Kiros nodded and walked out of the room, with Ward following closely behind him. He walked over and laid his hand on a box he never kept far from his desk and wondered if the old machine gun would find use again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It had taken a lot of effort to tie the assassin to the chair, but the Turks had managed it, and Rufus was confident enough in their abilities to feel safe interrogating the prisoner himself. The assassin was alert, yet at the same time carried himself as though he was defeated.

"Hello," Rufus began. "Perhaps you'd like to begin by giving me your name?"

The assassin didn't even budge.

Rufus sighed. "They bought my story," he said delightedly. "But if I can't at least get you to _say_ that you're from Esthar, would you mind telling me who _did_ send you?"

"I did," the assassin growled.

"Oh really?" Rufus chuckled. "And just how much are you paying yourself?"

He was greeted by silence. He sighed, realizing that he was getting nowhere.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," he threatened. "Just tell me who sent you and that will be the end of it."

"It will end nothing," the assassin growled again. "You have begun something that you cannot end. I know what it is that you want from Esthar, and you cannot begin to understand the consequences of seeking it."

Rufus stood and turned as if to leave. "I don't know how you found out about Lunatic Pandora," he said calmly, his demeanor never changing. "I assure you, however, that I am in complete control of this situation."

"And when you resurrect the Lunar Cry before its time? Then what, Rufus?"

Rufus laughed. "It doesn't matter if that old fairy tale is true. I'll have the most powerful weapon on the planet, and then not even Sephiroth himself could stop me."

"You would risk destroying the world just to possess a weapon that you do not need," the assassin sighed. It wasn't a question, merely a statement. "If that is so, then it is more pertinent than ever that I kill you. I cannot allow a mistake like that to come to fruition, not again."

Rufus faced the assassin again. "This has happened before?"

The assassin, however, had spoken all that he would.

**Next Time On Mad World:** We get some insights into Rakunya. Namely, he's a bad poet and he doesn't like the crater. More importantly, we enter the crater, and lots of things "go down" there. Three new cameos, signs of Tiamat, and more theories abound. Eventually, you'll find out who's right, but not for a while.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note:** Alright, its time for the next chapter. Who's ready to see what's in the Crater? On a different note, PLEASE don't judge my poetry by the first lines...Also, I don't remember if I mentioned this yet, but I am planning on adding some Dirge of Cerberus to this. I've looked back over my other chapters, and aside from a missing reference or two, I don't see where this is going to interfere at all, and it will help explain a few things, like how Rufus managed to come back to power.

* * *

**Chapter 14**

"Another journey into death's door," Rakunya began. "Another peek into nevermore. Another glimpse at an uncertain fate. Another look at what soon will be late."

"Cheer up, Rakunya," Selphie said. "No more depressing poems. Don't even finish that one!"

Rakunya chuckled. "All right, Selphie. I'll stop."

They proceeded to walk down the side of the crater, slowly progressing deeper and deeper into what Rakunya feared would become their own personal hell. Who knew what Sephiroth had planned for them? He shook his head. That wasn't the focus. The focus was finding out _why_ Sephiroth was there. _Then_ they could focus on staying alive.

Yuffie looked nervously at her friend. Part of her wanted to cling to him for support, but part of her also wanted to prove to Cloud that she had grown up since the last time they had met. She felt like she had become stronger and more independent, but for some reason it bothered her that Cloud would always think of her as the immature thief she had been.

She had changed a lot in the past…exactly how long had it been? Two years? Three? She didn't think it had been a full three years since the merger of the worlds, but she guessed that it must've been about two. It seemed hard to believe sometimes, yet at other times it felt as if it had always been this way, as if she had always lived outside Fire Cavern, as if she had always known Rakunya…

"There's been a fight," Vincent said, breaking her train of thought. "Recently, from the looks of it. Are these the remains of your battle against Sephiroth?"

Rakunya looked at what Vincent was pointing at: three deep gashes cut directly into the rock. It looked almost as if they were claw marks, but they were too deep to have been made by anything Rakunya knew of, with the possible exception of Sephiroth's blade. He shook his head.

"I thought not," Vincent said. He pointed further ahead, almost directly across the Crater from their current path. "The location of that hole, has that anything to do with it?"

Rakunya shook his head again. "Sephiroth's explosion should have left its mark further down. We haven't been travelling long enough to see what remains of the fight."

"What could've made marks like these. Vincent?" Tifa asked gently. For some reason, she was immediately reminded of Loz, but she dismissed the thought as quickly as it had come. There was no possible way that Loz's "claw" could've left a mark like this.

"Then my suspicions rise anew," he mused. He turned to Tifa. "This appears to be the work of a dragon."

Tifa gasped. "A dragon?"

Vincent nodded. "One whose rest was undisturbed by the merger of the worlds, where he found himself sleeping within this crater. He was awoken before his time, and he was furious."

"Tiamat?" Rinoa asked shakily. Squall raised an eyebrow; Rinoa had not mentioned anything about Tiamat.

Vincent nodded. "I believe so. He was awakened to be used for a purpose he did not desire to fulfill."

"Then, when he attacked us…"

"He was being controlled," Vincent finished.

Squall stared at Rinoa, then at Vincent, partly in shock that they had fought the monster and lived, and partly in shock that Vincent was perceptive enough to deduce these conclusions. He thought back briefly to what he remembered of Tiamat.

"Can Sephiroth control a dragon like that?" Squall pondered, not really expecting an answer.

"It would be one explanation for him being up here," Rakunya affirmed. "We did notice that he was trying to summon something."

"The ground shook and everything!" Selphie chattered in agreement.

Zell let out a low whistle. "Man, if this Sephiroth guy can control dragons, what else can he do?"

"This was not the work of Sephiroth," Cloud and Vincent said in unison. Everyone stared at Cloud, who continued, "If Sephiroth was after the two of you, he would've done it himself."

Vincent held a different explanation. "A beast such as a dragon cannot be controlled through ordinary means, nor by any means of Sephiroth."

Zell nodded in agreement. "Yeah, dragons are way too good for that!"

"Stuff it, chicken-wuss," Seifer grumbled. "Are we going to sit around staring at claw marks and holes or are we going to find this punk?"

"Sephiroth is not all that is in this Crater now," Vincent said wearily. Part of him wanted to let the fool rush to his death at Sephiroth's hands, but although he was cold, his conscience was not. "Something awoke a dragon from this crater. Whoever or whatever it was may still be in this Crater. It may prove to be a greater threat than Sephiroth."

"I don't care about this 'new threat'!" Seifer shouted. "I'm here to get Sephiroth. Now are we going or what?"

"Calm down, Seifer," Squall sighed. "There's more to this than we thought."

"Isn't there always?" Quistis grumbled. She had hoped that they were done after the defeat of Ultimecia, but it seemed that something would always happen.

Vincent nodded at her statement. "We'll go further down," he said. "No more answers may be found here."

They proceeded further down in relative silence. Rakunya heard small conversations here and there, but there was nothing of interest, just small talk to lighten the mood. Rakunya didn't want a lighter mood; he wanted to be alert. More importantly, he wanted answers. If Sephiroth wasn't behind this, than who was?

"Squall," Selphie said suddenly. "You don't think Ultimecia's involved, do you?"

Squall thought for a moment. He hadn't considered it, but it was a definite possibility. Tiamat had been one of the Guardians of the castle…

"Unlikely," Vincent spoke up after a brief silence. "Ultimecia was from the future of your world, was she not? I doubt we have come to her time yet."

They stopped shortly afterwards as Irvine let out a low whistle. "This is what Sephiroth did?"

Sure enough, they had come to the place where the battle had taken place the day before. The land still smelled scorched, and blood could be seen on the walls and ground. There were no bodies left to tell of the noble sacrifice the SeeDs had made in an effort to stop Sephiroth, although Irvine thought for sure that he smelled burning flesh.

Rakunya walked over to a wall and noticed the hilt of his gunblade sticking out. With a swift tug, he yanked it out of the wall and looked it over. It was charred, and he wasn't sure that the trigger still worked, but it was better than nothing. He swung it onto his shoulder.

"Let's go," he said solemnly, reminded in part of his vendetta against Sephiroth. "Sephiroth killed the rest of our expedition here. Their sacrifice cannot be in vain."

Yuffie looked in awe at her long time friend. A new fire burned behind his eyes, one of anger and determination. She had never seen him like this before, but something about it demanded respect, and he had instantly won hers.

Instead of continuing on, however, the group froze as Irvine cocked his shotgun. "We're not alone," he explained.

Selphie and Zell immediately began looking around for this unseen threat, forgetting that as a sniper, Irvine was likely to have better vision than both of them. Even so, Selphie found the threat as a doubled katana was brought down right in front of her face. She shouted in surprise and leapt back, readying her nunchaku.

Cloud spun to see what the commotion was, and upon seeing he immediately began to assemble his sword. "What are you doing?" he spat.

Rakunya immediately spun, facing Cloud rather than the direction Irvine had his shotgun pointed, expecting to see Sephiroth. Instead, however, was a younger man with much shorter hair than Sephiroth's, though it was still silver. The outfit was similar, yet more simplistic in its own way. His sword, which consisted of two katanas, was resting casually by his side, gripped tightly yet not in a battle position. There was something else as well, something that Rakunya couldn't put his finger on; it was as if there was a link to Sephiroth, yet at the same time he was separate.

"Kadaj," Vincent growled. "A remnant of Sephiroth. What purpose do you have, now that Sephiroth is alive?"

Kadaj simply smiled, then made a brief motion with his free hand. Yazoo leapt down in front of Irvine. He smiled, his hair flowing behind him in the wind. He raised his pistol, as if daring Irvine to shoot. Irvine simply smiled in return, the cocky smile of a man who knew that he would win a shootout.

Tifa yelped in surprise as Loz came up behind her. She backed away carefully, slowly, keeping her eyes on him the whole time, not trusting him to wait for Kadaj to attack. At the same time, however, she didn't want to fight, although Loz's immediate battle stance told her that he had different plans.

"Sephiroth asked us to keep this area free of intruders," Kadaj explained. He turned and stared at Cloud. "And since you weren't invited, I guess that means you, brother."

Seifer pulled Hyperion out from his side. "Looks like your plan to retreat failed," he growled at Vincent. "Good. I've been itching for a good fight."

Rakunya chuckled as he stuck his gunblade in the ground and unsheathed his katana. If it was going to become a fight, he wanted it to be a duel. "You would risk a fight against all of us?" he asked. "You are not Sephiroth. The odds lie in our favor."

"Don't aggravate them," Cloud warned.

Kadaj smiled at Rakunya. "Are you challenging us?"

"Merely stating the facts," he said as he walked closer to Kadaj.

"What are you doing?" Yuffie asked, pulling on Rakunya. "You arm isn't healed yet!"

"I'm just saying that you may wish to reconsider before you lash out," he said, ignoring Yuffie.

"Why would they?" another voice asked.

Everyone, the remnants included, turned their heads towards a rock ledge on which Sephiroth now stood. Cloud growled. "Sephiroth! What do you want?"

"The death of the unworthy," he explained casually. "When Mother came to our planet, she sought to destroy all that lived. It was detestable in her sight. We all know how her story ends. I, however, am here to finish that work for her."

Vincent raised Cerberus. "You lie," Vincent said. "If that was still your desire, you would not have secluded yourself to this crater."

Sephiroth seemed pleasantly surprised that his description was not taken at face value. He nodded at the man he knew to be an experiment. "You are perceptive indeed. If you must know, then suffice it to say that I am looking for power."

"A power that can only be found in the Crater," Red XIII mused. "What do you still need Jenova for?"

Sephiroth laughed at the beast. "There are other powers in this world now, powers that you cannot even begin to imagine. These powers shall make me the strongest being on the planet, allowing me to rid the world of those I deem unworthy of life. That much of my goal has not changed; I still seek a paradise for the worthy, and there are so few who are worthy here…"

His train of thought was interrupted as Cloud leapt through the air at him, bringing his massive sword around in a fatal swing. Sephiroth raised his blade and blocked it easily, throwing Cloud to the ground. He raised his sword, ready to bring it down for a fatal blow, but his sword was blocked by Rakunya.

"We don't die, Sephiroth," Rakunya growled, anger filling him as he recalled the SeeDs who had been slain. "Not today."

He brought his katana around, but Sephiroth kicked him squarely in the chest before he could complete his swing. He returned his attention to Cloud, who was up again and swinging violently at him. Sephiroth parried each attack, then struck Cloud's shoulder.

Suddenly, Irvine and Yazoo shot at each other simultaneously, and Loz and Tifa moved to strike each other. Loz knew that he was faster. He could feel the impact before it happened, saw his punch connecting, saw her on the ground, helpless.

His punch never met her, however. There was a blinding flash of light, and when it cleared, the "intruders" were missing. Loz nursed his bruised knuckles; his punch had indeed connected, but it had met the cave wall rather than Tifa.

Sephiroth growled. "Find them," he ordered his Remnants. "You will not rest until they can trouble us no more.**  
**

* * *

**Author's Note pt. 2:** Yes, yes, I know, very _deus ex machina_, but when's the last time ANYTHING has EVER gone right for an expedition into the Crater? Once? And even that barely counts, because Midgar was still torn to shreds. Anywho, enjoy the cameos, they are important (I feel redundant...).

**Next Time on Mad World:** Chapter 15 is dedicated to the villains, namely Rufus, Odine, Sephiroth, and CENSOR. We get some slight insights into Sephiroth and mystery man, and we begin to see what exactly Odine is up to, as well as where his loyalties lie.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note:** I know, I know, I'm late. College and McDonald's are secretly conspiring against this fanfiction, I swear it. In the meantime, I plan on finishing Chapter 19 as soon as I click "Add Chapter" on this one, so I should go back to updates every other day for a while.

A couple of quick notes: Yes, this is indeed a villain chapter. This means that every major villain that has been introduced gets a scene. Secondly, you may notice that most of Odine's scene is thought, as in little or no talking. Between Odine's last scenes and a couple of future chapters. I have decided that I hate Hate HATE writing in accents. If ANYBODY has any tips at all for me, PLEASE feel free to give me some pointers.

Lastly, in its own paragraph, in case any of you were wondering about my DoC stuff, there are no major spoilers planned at this time. I have dropped a minor spoiler in Chapter 16, but what I am spoiling happens in the fourth or fifth mission in, something like that, and there were larger things to spoil that I haven't even mentioned, nor do I see myself doing little more than alluding to them for a long time. In response to the "large cast of characters" comment I have gotten from a few of you, I am only adding two DoC exclusive characters.**  
**

**Chapter 15**

"You failed, Sephiroth. You had the perfect opportunity to kill all of them, and you failed!"

Sephiroth brought Masamune around threateningly. "You know what happened there. I think you even knew ahead of time that it would happen. If anyone is to blame, it is you."

"I'm not the one who let them escape!"

"Because you are busy hiding away in this hole." Sephiroth grabbed the man's collar. "We leave," he said simply.

"Leave? And just where do you think we are going?"

"To the Northern Crater. We will finish this now so that I can be rid of you."

The man scowled. "We're going nowhere!"

Sephiroth threw the man against the wall. "I don't understand you. You need this as much as I do. Why drag your feet? Why have you waited so long to retrieve it? Why do you still wait?"

"I have my reasons, and you'll respect that."

Sephiroth turned and pressed his sword into the man's neck. "I respect nothing."

"You won't kill me," the man chuckled. "In the end, you still know that you need me."

"I need no one."

"Of course. That's the whole point of this, isn't it? You're trying to prove to yourself that you can survive without Jenova. You've wanted to do that ever since your will became stronger than hers."

"My reasons for having dominion over this world are none of your concern."

The man laughed. "But they are, Sephiroth! I, too, seek dominion over this world. The only way for either of us to acquire it, however, is to use each other. Deep down, you understand this. You know that you can't do it alone."

Sephiroth snarled, but he knew the man spoke the truth. He needed this man to get around the Weapons that lay deep within the Crater. He knew that they would awaken if he attempted his task again; they had proved that the last time he tried.

"If you can get around the Weapons, why haven't you?" Sephiroth asked again.

The man frowned. He would have to answer Sephiroth this time; his very life was on the line. "There is another piece to the puzzle."

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at this. "I can retrieve them, but I activate the Weapons in doing so. You can negate the Weapons, but you cannot retrieve them. What is there left to answer?"

"We need a way around another ancient protection. What you were calling, it wasn't what you thought it was. Rather, it was a way to get to them. There is something deeper that we still must face. Your sword alone will not work, nor will my skills."

Sephiroth looked at the man skeptically. "And how did you discover this? You failed to mention it before."

He smiled and turned around. "I have acquired an anonymous link to Dr. Odine. He's a brilliantly mad man."

"And he knew of these things?"

"He found them for me," the man corrected. "When I found out that I couldn't retrieve them myself, I sent him to work on it. How he got as far as he did, I'll never know. Dumb luck, perhaps. He did, however, confirm my suspicions that there is a deeper threat lurking before them."

"And he didn't tell you how to pass them?"

The man laughed, which thoroughly annoyed Sephiroth. There was something about that laugh that he simply couldn't stand. "I said he was brilliantly mad, not a genius! He knows his field and that's about it."

"Then how do you know that I can't handle it?"

"Hints, suspicions…you need to trust me on this, Sephiroth. I'm even more anxious than you to get them and start ruling over this miserable planet, but let me gather my intelligence first."

Sephiroth turned to leave. "Perhaps I should do the same."

* * *

Dr. Odine marveled at the frightened yet resigned young summoner before him. She was a frail thing, and the very sight of him frightened her now. He could tell that she was afraid of what would happen to her, of what he might be planning to do to her. It seemed as though his obvious thirst for knowledge had crushed her childhood innocence and willingness to trust anyone.

He chuckled to himself. None of this would've been possible if the worlds hadn't merged. The presence of a summoner aside, he had acquired a new "boss" shortly after the merger, one that had wanted him to investigate some nonsense in the Crater. In that investigation, however, he discovered something that he thought could never exist. The Guardians of whatever it was he was supposed to be searching for…he still couldn't believe it was true. They had been capable of mind control.

He had decided than that there had to be a way that he could harness the ability. In time, he found that way. He himself could not retrieve what he desired; it was far too dangerous. Instead, he sent an underground mercenary team after it. Only one had survived, and even he wasn't alive any more. He had returned to Odine completely mad, and for his own safety Odine had to kill the man after taking what he had asked for.

To date, his efforts had only yielded him half of what he expected; the less knowledgeable would deem it a "truth serum", but he still liked to consider it as a lesser form of mind control. At the least, this would work enough, ensuring him that he had a summoner on his hands, though her horn made it painfully obvious. The side effects would keep the girl sedated after his brief interrogation of her as well.

"Name," he barked, realizing that the drug had likely taken effect.

"Eiko Carol," she told him. Her tone was strange, almost as if she was in a dream. No doubt she was trying to separate herself from this experience.

"Age?"

"Eight."

"Are you a summoner?"

She nodded. "From Madain Sari," she confirmed.

"You can summon eidolons?"

She nodded again, tears coming to her eyes.

"Vat do you fear right now?"

"That you're planning on extracting the eidolons," she whispered.

Odine paused for a moment. He hadn't even thought of extracting them; clearly their bond with their summoner was more than he had expected. He knew that a summoner could only summon eidolons that would speak to them; that much was in the legends. The idea that they would reside in the body of a small girl, however…He was definitely intrigued.

"Dr. Odine," a voice said. "The beta is nearly ready."

Odine nodded and left without saying another word. He would get Rufus his data on the eidolons some other time. This came first. He had been attempting to perfect mind control from the moment he began his earlier research. This beta would have to be worn, and he was unsure of how much will, if any, the subject would still have, but he swore to himself that before the war was over he would have complete control over the summoner.

* * *

Rufus smiled to himself. He knew that the assassin wasn't from Esthar; Laguna may have been a fool, but he was neither smart enough nor dumb enough to send an assassin after Rufus. All that mattered, though, was that the people believed him. The assassin had not only given him an excuse for war, it had provided him with an upper hand in the world. Laguna was viewed as the lower party now, despite previous misgivings about Rufus. He chuckled briefly at how the world could easily shift its opinions. 

He looked over the reports on his desk, pausing on one that mentioned the town of Kalm being burnt the night before. He thought briefly of investigating it, but he smiled as he realized that it would be easier to blame the situation on Laguna. Moral standing always helped a country in a war.

He pulled out a map and looked over it briefly. He had already marked places that his associates thought Lunatic Pandora might be hiding. He would send teams to excavate those areas, while at the same time he would send SOLDIER to invade Esthar, distracting Laguna from the people he sent digging.

He smiled as he thought about all the tales of what Lunatic Pandora could do. He would have the world on its knees. Shinra would again rise to the power it once was, with Rufus at the head of everything. He was looking forward to being the ruler of all the worlds. No one could stop him, not even if Sephiroth came back from the dead.

He pressed a button on his desk. "Put me through to Odine," he told his secretary. "I'd like to see how he has progressed with the summoner."

* * *

**Next Time on Mad World:** The mysterious vanishing is explained to a degree, and we discover the fates of the characters involved in The Crater Part 2. More filler and set up, but the set up leads into a later climax... 


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note:** Holy crap its been a long time! Fortunately, work seems to be better spaced this coming week, and I don't have anything to do at college except study for mid-terms, so you should be getting plenty of Mad World.

Speaking of which, here is Chapter 16, in which The fate of the Crater Part 2 victims is discovered. I know, its a tad Deus ex Machina...ok it REEKS of Deus ex Machina...hopefully it works.

Also, there is FORSEEABLE PAY OFF! I predict several reveals between chapters 20 and 30, and I know for a fact that I set up for one at the very end of Chapter 18. So, to those of you who still read, I'm not keeping you in the dark forever!**  
**

* * *

**Chapter 16**

Selphie woke up and patted herself down to make sure she was still in one piece. She then noticed that she was actually on a bed. Slowly, she opened her eyes, wondering what had happened. Had she dreamed the whole thing?

The room was completely unfamiliar to her. There was little on the walls, not even a window, and she felt uncomfortable in such a situation. It was almost like a prison, yet it was certainly the most comfortable one she had ever heard of. She looked beside her and noticed that on a table was a full chicken dinner. Realizing how hungry she was, she immediately began to devour it.

As she was eating, she noticed a small note next to her plate. She opened it slowly, curious to what it said, yet at the same time more cautious than she had been with her food.

"Hope you enjoy your food," the note said. She sighed. It wasn't signed or anything.

"I see you're up, lass!" a bright voice suddenly chirped.

Selphie jumped off her bed, looking everywhere for the source of the voice. To her surprise, there was no visible source for the voice, or at least she thought so. A small black toy leapt onto her bed and waved at her. Selphie blinked at it, wondering if she was going insane.

"Glad to see ya made it oot alright!" he chirped. This thing was far too happy for Selphie's liking. She was cheery. This was creepy. "I'm Cait Sith, and I'll be your host for a while!"

"Um…no offence, Mr. Sith, but is there a person I can talk to?"

The cat doll laughed heartily and walked towards the door. "I'll send him in soon, lass!" he called as he left.

Selphie had still not fully grasped what had happened as a tall man walked into the room. "Hello," he said politely. "My name is Reeve."

"I'm Selphie," she said slowly, as if in a daze. "That thing…"

"Ah, you've met my animatronic puppet Cait Sith," he chuckled. "I suppose that he could be a bit unusual to encounter until you're used to him. Would you like to follow me, please? I'm sure the others would be more than happy to see you."

Selphie nodded. "But only if you tell me what's going on!"

Reeve nodded, then motioned her out the door. "I suppose I should start from the beginning. I used to work for Shinra Inc. before the worlds merged. When Cloud fought with Sephiroth, I helped him using Cait Sith. However, the Shinra building was destroyed, more or less, and I found myself out of work and wanting to help people. Hence, I formed the WRO, the World Restoration Organization. However, around the time the worlds merged, Rufus resurrected Shinra, the power company turned military power, and he forced the WRO out of commission. I've taken a job with Shinra again, just to stay on the inside, but my loyalties remain to the WRO, and several of Shinra's employees and even a few SOLDIERs hold my sentiments."

"Alright, but where are we?" Selphie asked. "What happened to Sephiroth?"

"I'm getting there. You see, loyal members of the WRO have kept it going as an underground organization, quite literally. Recently, however, we have had new sources of information who have encouraged us to have a working base of operations in and around the Crater. It seems they thought that something would happen, and indeed it did! We've been monitoring activity in the Crater, so we realize that Sephiroth has indeed come back from the dead once again. We saw the ambush coming long before you did, and so we sent operatives in there to rescue you."

"And how exactly did you manage that?" Selphie asked, thoroughly curious.

"Magic," Reeve said simply, a slight chuckle when he realized that he wouldn't be taken seriously.

Selphie, however, understood the concept better than Reeve seemed to think. "Only a sorceress could possibly have strong enough magic to teleport us out of the crater like that."

"That's what we thought, too," Reeve admitted. "We don't know much about it at all, really. One of our anonymous sources arrived to make sure we would save you from the ambush, and they insisted on going along with the rescue mission."

"And you don't know anything about them?"

"Only that they use exceptional magic. Everytime they show up, they're in a black cloak that completely hides all of their features. Their voice is distorted, too; we can't tell if this person is male or female, the distortion is so bad!

"Back to the subject however, Sephiroth and his Remnants were too focused on you to notice us, so we managed to evacuate you while only losing three men. We fear that Sephiroth may have picked up on a connection between our men and your disappearance, but we can't think of any way for him to find us."

Selphie thought for a moment. "You mentioned the others…did everybody make it back alright?"

Reeve nodded. "Everyone is present except for one…I believe Squall called him 'Seifer'. He was furious that we had taken him from the battle and demanded that we let him out. We tried to calm him down, but he managed to escape."

Selphie sighed. "Reckless as always," she muttered.

They entered a lobby, and immediately she felt Rakunya give her a one-armed hug. "Glad to see you're awake," he told her.

The two of them moved back to the couch where Rakunya had been sitting with Yuffie, and there was a brief moment of silence. "Reeve," Cloud finally said. "What do you know about Sephiroth?"

"About as much as you at this point," he sighed. "Unlike the Remnants, who we noticed following you in the Crater, Sephiroth just seems to appear out of nowhere. It's a mystery to us how he avoids us, where he goes when he's not there, how he came back…"

"Well, then what are we just sitting around for?" Zell demanded.

Irvine nodded in agreement. "Just sitting here isn't going to get us any information."

There seemed to be a general murmur of agreement, or at least a lack of dissension, until a new voice spoke up. "Leaving now is certain death. Without a general knowledge of the situation, your opponent has a great advantage over you, and Sephiroth needs no more advantages."

Vincent nodded. "Shelke, what have you discovered?"

"I've spoken with our new intelligence sources," Shelke told him. Her tone almost made it seem as though she was ignoring all others who were present. "They are looking into the possibility that Sephiroth has a partner. They have also stated that they have seen the remnants near Midgar. Can you think of anything that Sephiroth might want from Midgar, Vincent?"

"Revenge?" Squall answered.

Cloud shook his head. "If that was the case, he would attack Midgar directly. He sent a Remnant, though, which means that he's looking for something."

"Or someone," Red added bitterly, nodding at Cloud.

There was a brief pause before Rakunya decided to change the subject. "You said Sephiroth might have a partner?"

"He hasn't always appeared alone in the crater," Shelke admitted. "There have been instances where he was accompanied by another, but we have no idea who it might be. We can't get a clear reading on him, as if something was distorting our sensors."

"So we wait for both of them to show up and pummel them together!" Zell shouted enthusiastically.

"And then what?" Rakunya demanded. "I'm avoiding that crater for now. Something strange happens every time we go in there. We've been able to survive it twice, but you know what they say about the third time…"

"What about a reconnaissance mission?" Squall asked. Everyone turned their attention to him. "Surely we must have someone who is quick enough to spy on Sephiroth and his partner and escape without getting caught. Then, perhaps we'll have more insight on what exactly he's up to."

There was a long pause as everyone contemplated what had been said. Finally, Rinoa spoke up. "I'll do it," she said. "Even if they notice me, I'll be able to defend myself with magic."

Squall, of course, immediately refused, but it was Cloud who came up with the reasoning. "We don't need someone who can protect themselves, we need someone who we know is going to get away and be able to report to us."

Selphie thought for a moment. "In other words, the further away we can be, the better, right?"

Tifa nodded. "We can't do this lightly. We have to think for a long time and make sure we're picking the best people for the job."

Rakunya nodded. "I can only think of two people here who would be able to see and hear everything that was going on from a distance." He nodded towards Irvine and Red.

"I suppose it makes sense," Irvine sighed. "I'd rather be sniping him than listening to him, though."

Red thought carefully, then nodded. "I accept. However, if I go, I must insist that Vincent comes along." He turned towards Vincent with an approving look. "I'd like to have somebody who I know I can trust. You'll find that he also meets your qualifications."

Vincent nodded, then left the room.

"I suppose that's decided, then," Reeve chuckled as Vincent left. "I'll alert you when the two of them are in the crater. Good luck."

* * *

**Next Time on Mad World:** The assassin is given an entire chapter, yet another loose end I realized needed tieing up. Join him in his daring escape attmept! 


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note:** Hisashibura da na! Wait, this is the assasin's chapter...I should've saved that for Sephiroth's appearance. anyway, I'm back after my month of funky internet and flaky text uploads and midterms, so here, as promised, is the assassin's chapter. I'm backing off on the Next Time On section because I'm going back to chapter a day for a little while. Also, I do listen to my readers, and things will begin to make sense...mind you, everything looses sense at about the same time as I pull on some strings that nobody has touched on yet, one's that I thought I'd be jumped on for "leaving out". Kudos (and maybe a cameo?) to the first person to figure out what it is!

* * *

**Chapter 17**

He sighed. He was out of practice, too old…no matter what he said, it was still just excuses. He had failed an easy kill. Rufus was a weak man, under guarded for a man of his rank. Still, he had failed to anticipate the movement of the Turks. The attack from behind had caught him off guard…it shouldn't have. He should've known, should've anticipated. He had failed in every possible way on this mission, ignoring the fact that he made it to Rufus.

He shook his head. Feeling sorry for himself was not going to bring Rufus to his end any quicker, nor would it help his cause, nor would it help those who were counting on him. His first thought was to escape. Everything came second, to include the decision to stay and find Rufus or to escape with his own life.

He looked around the room. There were no defining features, and as near as he could tell, the only door was behind him. That was the entrance that Rufus had used at the very least. He listened carefully for the sound of breathing, but only his was present. The Turks were not there. If they were, they were likely keeping watch outside, which wouldn't matter. As long as he got to the door…

Their method of tying him down was quite crude; simple rope held him to a simple chair. Both his arms and legs were bound, both to each other and to the chair. They had, of course, taken the dagger that he had used against Rufus, in addition to a few of the more obvious ones that he kept, but while it had been a while, he was still a good assassin, and every good assassin keeps extra weapons handy.

He almost chuckled at how easy escape would be. The incompetent Turks had failed to search him properly; if they had, it might have taken effort to escape. Instead, however, they had neglected a small shuriken had kept at his wrist under his sleeve. He worked it into his palm slowly and carefully.

Slicing the ropes, he returned the shuriken to its hidden pocket; he didn't have many, so holding on to the one he knew he kept was imperative. He proceeded quickly and silently to the door. He paused for a moment, then pulled a dagger out from his pants. Opening the door, he reached around and slit the throats of his two guards.

Stepping out, he noticed that the guards were not Turks after all; they were mere SOLDIER grunts. Part of him was disappointed; he was looking forward to rewarding incompetence.

"Looking for us?" a vaguely familiar voice asked as the door he had just left shut behind him.

He leapt forward and spun around. Now standing before him were a pair of Turks, one of which was holding a metal staff; he guessed it was the same type of weapon that was used to stun him earlier, perhaps even the same Turk.

"We knew you'd try to escape," the bald Turk scoffed. "You should've known that we'd be expecting you."

The assassin readied his dagger, making it apparent to the Turks. "You should've known that I'd be expecting you," he growled. He lunged at the bald Turk, who bent out of the way, but only barely. The dagger managed to place a small cut in his chin.

The other Turk ran forward recklessly, and the assassin easily parried the blow, countering with a crippling slice on the Turks arm, rendering his weapon arm useless, at least for the duration of the fight. The brief moment that had taken, however, gave the bald Turk time to punch the assassin in the side of the head, knocking him into a wall.

The assassin groaned internally. This hallway was much too narrow for the type of battle that was beginning, and he wondered if he could make use of it. He decided that battle was not the preferable choice, mostly due to the conditions, and that escape would be simpler.

The injured Turk stood and began to run. "Hold him, Rude!" he shouted. "I'm getting help!"

Rude went to hit him again, but the assassin dodged the blow and rolled aside. Pulling a shuriken out from each wrist, he launched his brief offensive at the Turk. Both shuriken hit him in the shoulder, but he flicked them away, as though they were more of a nuisance than a serious threat.

Rude began his offensive, leaning in for punches, only one of which hit, but this plan was also short lived. He attempted to kick the assassin, but the assassin brought his dagger around and cut the back of Rude's leg; he dropped in an instant.

The assassin moved in for the kill, but Rude pulled a gun out of his pocket and aimed it at the assassin, finger resting on the trigger. "Not another step," Rude threatened.

A brief bout of fear overtook the assassin, and he stopped in his tracks. Rude continued to glare at him. "Rufus doesn't want you dead," he said. "Not yet. So why don't you cooperate and get back into your room?"

The assassin scoffed. "Bold words for a man who hides behind a gun. Are you afraid to fight?"

Rude scoffed as well. "I'm smarter than that. I'm in no condition to fight; you've seen to that," he added, indicating his leg. "As long as I have the upper hand, you'll do as I say."

The assassin took in his surroundings briefly. The hallway was long and bright, but less than 50 yards behind Rude was another hallway, a darker one off to the left. He thought quickly on how to make it there before the other Turk could return.

"You seem confident that I'll comply," the assassin noted. "Presumption is a mistake."

The assassin raised his leg and kicked the gun out of Rude's hand. Rude leapt for it, but the assassin kicked it down the hall; he didn't need to kill Rude now, he only had to escape and find Rufus. Using Rude as a springboard, he leapt several feet and sprinted for the hallway, turning into the shadows of the unlit corridor, knowing that Rude would be unable to follow in a timely manner.

He followed the halls, carefully avoiding any that were well lit, until at last he found an air vent that he could crawl through. It was a tight fit, but he slowly maneuvered his way around, carefully listening for signs of Rufus. With any luck, he would overhear a conversation that would lead him straight to this deranged man.

He topped at one, and cursed internally when he noticed that the vent was too small for him to escape through; he had found Rufus. He pressed his ear to the air vent, listening closely to the conversation that Rufus was having.

"And my data? We did have an agreement, Dr. Odine."

"Yes, yes," a voice said over a speaker. "You shall have ze data, just not now…"

"Why not? I was hoping to have Materia capable of reproducing the Eidolons before the war began. Do you have anything for me?"

"Ven shall ze first battle commence? I shall have ze data there!"

"You had best, Odine. Don't forget, you work for me now, and I won't hesitate to have you killed if you fail me."

"Do not prezume to threaten me, Rufus! You can do nutzing!"

"We will see," Rufus said as he pressed a button, a small grin on his face.

Suddenly, the Turk from before burst into the room. "Sir, the assassin escaped!"

Rufus raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you and Rude supposed to stop him before he got anywhere?"

"Well…um…that didn't work. He sorta…overpowered us, boss."

"He's one man. You are two of the best trained fighters in the Turks."

"Well, we weren't expecting to meet our equal, sir."

Rufus thought. "Has security been notified?"

"Of course! First thing I did! I went back to see if Rude had caught him or not, but I found him laying there with his leg cut and his gun down the hall. He's in the care of our medical teams now."

Rufus nodded at this, and the assassin pondered the situation for a moment. Was Rufus so cold that he cared not for what had just happened to one of his self-proclaimed "best trained Turks"?

"I want the assassin found," he said finally. "If you can't catch him, kill him. You have fifteen minutes to have this whole building searched."

The Turk nodded and ran off. The assassin backtracked slightly, wondering if he could use the vent that he had used earlier to attack Rufus, which was on the other side of the room, but as he did, a pair of armed soldiers entered the room. He slowed his movement down slightly, noticing that they weren't using SOLDIER uniforms or weapons.

"Reporting!" one of them said. "We are assembled and ready for deployment."

"Good," Rufus nodded. The assassin continued backing away, and he was glad that he hadn't stopped. Although the voices were becoming faint, he heard Rufus talking to the two soldiers. "There is an assassin loose. Last time, he used the air vents…"

Shortly afterwards, without warning, the vent in front of him was filled with bullets. The new holes allowed him to hear the rest of the conversation: "A bit more direct than I would have liked, but it will do. The cost of repairs will, of course, be deducted from your agreed upon salary. Now then, let's see if everything is in order. You two, accompany me for the rest of the day."

Now realizing where he was, the assassin returned to the duct that he had used before to enter the office and followed his path back out the ShinRa building, knowing that he would remain unseen as long as he remained in the shadows. Shadow was his element, his territory. He was familiar with shadow, while most people feared it. Perhaps it came with the trade, perhaps he was simply dark by nature. In either case, the shadows would save his life as he escaped.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note:** Yes, this Chapter is filler. Still, every good story has filler somewhere, and not all of us use the Tolkien method of taking WAY too long say something. (Apologies to Tolkien fans, but I'm trying to read Two Towers right now...). I am again skipping the "Next Time On" section. If you want to find out what happens, read and review. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

* * *

**Chapter 18**

"What's your point?" Sephiroth asked.

"I might be able to track them down for us now!"

"Why bother with a probability?" he scoffed. "We know for a fact that they will in time return to the Crater. Why don't we simply finish them there?"

"Why wait? Besides, even if we can't trace them back there, at least there will be others there that we don't need around. We can kill them, too! The panic of seeing someone who shouldn't exist will be too much for them!"

"I am not you dog," Sephiroth retorted, glaring at his "partner". "I will not do your dirty work for you. If you have a feud with them, you may kill them."

"Did I say that I was sending you?" The man laughed. "You assume too much! I have a better way than that."

"Besides," a new voice said. "You are not the only one who is not supposed to exist, Sephiroth."

Sephiroth spun. "Where did you come from?"

"I've been waiting in the shadows for my moment. It would seem that unlike you, I am not afraid to submit myself for a small period of time to accomplish my goals."

The stranger stepped out of the shadows, and Sephiroth drew his blade. "What sort of trick is this?"

"None, for once," the man chuckled. "You may not be willing to be my hound, hunting the undesirable who need to be slaughtered before they can become a problem, but he most certainly will. Say hello to my new personal assassin."

* * *

Rakunya stretched out on his bed, still trying to absorb everything that had happened thus far. Reeve's explanation still seemed to be inadequate for him. As far as he knew, Rinoa was the only living sorceress, and she obviously didn't teleport them away. In fact, he could think of no materia, legendary or otherwise, that would allow anyone to perform such a feat.

There was something off about this "mysterious source" of Reeve's. Among other things, why had they not seen this person? Why hadn't they even seen any proof of this person? The best they had to go off of was the fact that Shelke had confirmed the presence of these anonymous sources.

Shelke was a mystery herself. Outer appearance showed her to be around 10 or 11, but something felt wrong about that to Rakunya, as though she should be older. From what little he had seen or heard of her, he knew that at the very least her intelligence surpassed this age bracket by incredible amounts. He made a mental note to find out what her story was.

There was a soft knock on his door before Yuffie peered inside. "You awake?" she asked softly.

"Too early to sleep still," he said, sitting up and motioning for Yuffie to come inside.

She took a seat next him. "What're you doing?" she asked casually.

"Thinking," he said. "What else can I do?"

She chuckled, misunderstanding him. "You're right, this place is boring. Reeve should totally throw a party or something!"

Rakunya laughed, but he didn't say any more. Resolved to figure out what was going on, his mind drifted back into thought. He wondered if the reconnaissance mission was a good idea. Maybe they should've gone after Sephiroth and his partner like Zell had suggested. What if Vincent, Red, and Irvine couldn't make it out in time and were killed? If someone was "destined" to die, shouldn't Sephiroth have fallen with them?

"How's your arm?" Yuffie asked, breaking the silence.

"A bit stiff," he admitted. "The stitches they gave me aren't mixing well with the fast healing white magic."

He looked at her and saw genuine concern in her eyes, so he added, "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"I'm going to worry anyways, Rakunya. You almost died. I don't want that to happen. I don't even want you to come that close again. Promise me that you'll be careful, alright?"

He leaned his head onto Yuffie's shoulder. "I wish I could, Yuffie. I wish I could promise you that everything would turn out OK in the end, that everything would work out, that we'd all be here after Sephiroth was foiled, but I can't. I won't lie to you, Yuffie; there are no guarantees. I don't want to see you hurt like you were in that forest, and I'll do everything that I can to keep it from happening, but I can't promise you that it will work."

She put a finger to his lips. "Please don't start getting depressed, Rakunya. You have to believe that we can finish him off. We have to do it. There's no telling what will happen if we don't. I just want to know that you'll be safe."

Rakunya thought, his head still resting comfortably on her shoulder. "I won't be," he said after a pause. "I can't stay back here and be safe. I'll be on the frontline, doing battle with Sephiroth and his partner."

Yuffie sighed. "Just don't leave me. Stay alive," she whispered. She stood up and started to leave. "I'm gonna go see if anybody else found anything to do around here. C'mon!"

Rakunya shook his head. "Not yet," he said. "When I leave here again, it's going to be for answers or food."

* * *

The silence was long and awkward. They had almost run into each other as they both turned a corner, and confrontation seemed inevitable. Both of them wanted to leave, but both of them wanted answers as well. Determined to make the first move, he at long last gave up the awkwardness and put on his gentlemanly airs.

"Hello, Selphie," Irvine said, tipping his hat to her. "How's my favorite lady today?"

"Shut up," she spat back. "I'm not your 'favorite lady', and I don't think I ever was."

"Of course you are!" he said, still keeping his airs about him. "If you weren't, why would I keep coming back?"

"If I was, you wouldn't go in the first place," she growled. Her eyes burned with a hatred she had forgotten she had as all of her anger towards him built into a flaming rage.

"Selphie, I'm sorry," he began, his tone still not changing or showing any sincere sign of apology. "I made a mistake, I know I did, and I beat myself up for it all the time…"

"Shut up!" she shouted as he took a step towards her. "I don't want any more of your damned excuses. Commitment issues, I'm too strict, you were drunk, I've heard them all, Irvine, and I've had it! No more lies, no more excuses! I don't even really give a damn what you were doing! Just leave me alone!"

Irvine simply laughed. "C'mon, Selphie, let's just skip all this anger and get down to the truth: We still like each other."

Selphie shook her head. "I've had it, Irvine. I'm done. I meant it, that really was your last chance, and you blew it. You should be happier now; you can mess around with any woman you want without me nagging at you. I don't want you anymore, Irvine!"

"I know the truth. In fact, you've even gone so far as to start dating my buddy Rakunya to make me jealous!"

"I'm not dating Rakunya, and if I was, it certainly would have nothing to do with you. But you don't get that, do you? It _has_ to come back to you somehow! That's the only way things work, isn't it? Everything is all about Irvine! _Irvine_ can have any women he wants! _Irvine_ gets to have his 'pet' girlfriend on the side in case his affairs don't work out! _Irvine_ gets to decide how everybody else needs to act! Selphie would only date other guys to make _Irvine_ jealous!"

"Just accept it, Selphie. You've been all over Rakunya since you got on the airship, and it's just a way to make me jealous. Just admit that you still want me."

She reached out and slapped him. "Don't you _dare_ talk to me again," she growled.

She turned and ran, leaving Irvine staring speechless. It had never taken more than a simple excuse to get Selphie back after his old habits broke them apart, but it seemed as though there would be no such reconciliation for them this time.

A small tear left his eye as he realized this. He generally failed to show it, but he had actually cared for Selphie. She had accepted him even knowing his faults, taken him in with loving, trusting arms, and all of that was gone now. He had to admit that he couldn't blame her; he had broken her trust on more occasions than he could count, and he was partially surprised that she took him back as many times as she did. Typically all it took was some smooth talking followed later by a romantic gesture, but he doubted this would fix anything now.

He turned and began walking back towards his room slowly. He knew that his chances were slim, but in admitting that she wasn't dating Rakunya, she had left Irvine with a slight bit of hope. Perhaps there was still a way that he could win her back, before Rakunya had hooked her or she hooked Rakunya. Maybe there was still something that he could do. He didn't know what, but he was sure he could find something.

He entered his room and hung his trench coat on the doorknob. He laid down on the bed, thinking of any way that he could lure her back. He wanted to try the romantic route, a route that he rarely used with women because none of them meant enough for him to put effort into a relationship. He closed his eyes, hoping to get some sleep. He would have a busy day ahead of him attempting to acquire Reeve's help in setting up something romantic for Selphie.

* * *

Vincent looked it over carefully. Reeve had mentioned to him that this room was typically occupied by his "sources" whenever one came by for an anonymous visit, and he had just found more proof. He set it beside his other piece of evidence and thought briefly.

His thought was interrupted as Rinoa walked in; he knew he should've shut the door, but he had hoped to catch Shelke walking by so that he could question her about the items. "I can't help you," he said firmly.

"Then why were you going to have me meet you at the 'Forgotten Capital'?" she asked.

"I thought I knew more than I do," he admitted grimly.

"What do you mean?" she asked curiously. He pointed to the table, on which he had set a bracelet and an undecipherable book. Rinoa raised an eyebrow. "Is there something I'm missing? How do these keep you from telling me what's going on?"

"Because those weren't made in this world," he said, his tone final, as if telling her to leave.

Rinoa, however, missed the cue. "Which world?" she asked.

"Any of them."


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Note:** A day late, but worth the wait. This will be the last chapter without a "Next Time On" section. From here on out, you'll be a bit more informed. In the meantime, everything changes in this chapter...**  
**

**Chapter 19**

Failing to pay attention, Selphie ran straight into Rakunya, knocking him over. Had he not let out a yelp of pain, she might not have even noticed. "Oh!" she began, stumbling over herself in profuse apologies, helping him up from the uncomfortable position of landing on his wounded arm.

"It's alright, it's alright," Rakunya said finally. "I'm not hurt…" he grimaced in pain before adding, "…_that_ badly."

"I'm so sorry Rakunya," she continued.

He gently placed a finger on her lips. "Don't worry about me," he said, his tone suddenly soft and calm. "What about you?"

She pretended to be confused. "What do you mean?"

"I heard you shouting," he said simply. "I was coming to go see what was going on when you ran into me. Was it a fight with Irvine?"

"How did you…?"

"Lucky guess," he replied, his sarcasm laced with bitter cynicism. He had warned her before about continuing with Irvine; in fact he seemed to recall warning her the fourth, fifth, and sixth times before giving up. "What happened?"

Bitter tears began to refresh the stains on Selphie's cheeks. "He tried to sweet talk me again," she said. "I shouldn't have lashed out at him like that, but I just couldn't take it anymore, Rakunya."

"I can't blame you," he agreed. "You took it too many times…"

"I know, I know, you tried to warn me about it, I shouldn't have taken him back…"

He cut her off. "I'm not trying to lecture you, Selphie. You had your reasons for taking him back, and I accept that. No lectures, no preaching, no 'I told you so', none of that."

"I still shouldn't have taken him back, but I didn't want to just leave him…but look at where it's gotten me, Rakunya! I've changed a lot, haven't I? I must've," she answered herself. "I shouldn't have lashed out like that…"

Rakunya reached over and pulled Selphie into a reassuring hug. "It's alright," he whispered. "Everything will turn out alright in the end. Just wait and see."

Selphie didn't say anything; she simply sat and cried into Rakunya's shoulder. Irvine hadn't completely lied; she did still have feelings for him. If she didn't, she never would have taken him back a third or fourth time, let alone as many times as she did. Part of her knew that somewhere inside Irvine was a good person, but passing with her tears she felt the desire to change him leaving her. No matter how good of a person she could make him, he was not worth this much heartache, especially when she apparently meant so little to him.

She pulled away slowly. "Thank you, Rakunya. Thanks for just being there for me."

"Anytime," he smiled. "If you ever just need to talk…besides," he added with a chuckle, "is there anything better to do?"

Selphie laughed. Rakunya had always managed to help lighten her mood, just like he had always seen through her happy faces when she really felt pain.

"Well, at the least there's sleep!" she laughed. "I'm heading off to get some shut eye. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"

Rakunya nodded. "Sleep sounds like a wonderful idea right about now."

* * *

"You're lying," Rinoa said simply. "You're trying to tell me there's another world here?"

"These are not the only fragments I have found," Vincent confirmed. "These just mean that the ones helping Reeve aren't from this world, either."

A noise was heard in the distance as the room began to shake. Rinoa sighed. "Why is it we get attacked when we try to figure things out?"

Vincent stared at her, unintentionally scaring her. There was something about the intruder…He could feel a presence, but he wasn't entirely sure what he felt. He almost thought he recognized it, but he couldn't place it.

"Go find the others," Vincent said suddenly. "We have a fight approaching."

* * *

He had wanted to make this quick and simple, yet at this rate, the entire complex was to be charging him in a matter of minutes. _Good,_ he thought. _It means I won't have to go searching for them._

Another blast of weapon fire, and another row of soldiers fell. He ridiculed their efforts. They were nothing, less than pawns, and they had all managed to become forked by his "master's" knight. He paused on the term "master". The man was telling him what to do, but like Sephiroth, rebellion was a consistently open option…

His train of thought was interrupted by more gunfire. He tore through the soldiers with Masamune, Sephiroth's prized blade. "If they are indeed there," Sephiroth had said, "I want Cloud's head brought to me on the end of Masamune."

He had kneeled and accepted the sword, equally eager and reluctant. "You would rather not have the pleasure yourself?"

"I have my own dirty work to do. It is your job to cover _his_."

And so he had accepted Masamune and infiltrated the area where the enemy was to be hiding. It had not been hard, and he wondered why his "boss" had not done it himself.

The soldiers were growing wiser, keeping their distance from him and using more powerful weapons. None of this mattered, however. Any bullet that was fired he could stop, any sword he could parry, any berserker he could impale. He noticed a high ceiling atrium at the end of the hall he was proceeding down. If he could simply move the fight to the atrium, his true enemies would fail nearly instantly.

* * *

Irvine stopped shortly before his room as a panicked Zell came charging through the halls. Zell stopped as yet another rumble echoed through the building, distant yet more distinct than the last series. "Earthquake?" Irvine joked, trying not to let Zell see the pain in his eyes.

"Worse!" Zell shouted. "Some dude who looks a bit like Sephiroth is busting in here! We've got to do something! Don't just stand there," he added, shaking Irvine. "Do something!"

Irvine nodded, collecting himself. This certainly explained the rumbles. Between any battle to keep him out and his forced means of entry… "You alert the others. I'll try to hold him back until we have enough people up here to fight him."

Irvine raced through the halls until he found the source of the commotion. A man stood at the entrance to the atrium, clearly annoyed with the soldiers in front of him. Irvine could certainly see Zell's point; in the facial structure, he did vaguely resemble Sephiroth, and the sword he wielded was unmistakable. The obvious differences, however, were the normal hair, stranger outfit, and ridiculously large black wing, now fully extended, protruding out of this man's back.

Irvine raised his shotgun, taking careful aim, waiting to see what this man was doing, when suddenly he heard a gun cock beside him. "You didn't think I'd let you have all the fun, did you?" Rakunya said slyly.

"Glad to see you're on my side," Irvine replied darkly, hoping Rakunya wouldn't catch the cynicism.

Of course, Rakunya caught it immediately. "Her prejudice, not mine," he said. "Now what do you say we put your breakup behind us and kick some intruder ass?"

"My thoughts exactly," Irvine smiled, his spark returning.

The two gunners fired nearly simultaneously, but the warrior stopped their bullets with his sword. Realizing its obtrusion, he retracted the wing, a concept which baffled Rakunya, though he refused to show it.

"Who are you?" he heard Squall demand from behind him.

"Your worst nightmare," the figure growled, lunging forward.

He was tripped by a pair of nunchaku, apparently caught off-guard. "We'll just see about that!" Selphie shouted confidently.

Squall leapt in for a devastating strike, but the figure parried the attack and threw Squall against the nearest wall.

"Cover me," Rakunya whispered to Irvine as he holstered the pistol. "Just like every other time we've fought together."

Irvine nodded as he released the pressure on the trigger slightly. His mind was focused into the battle now; there was a time to shoot, and it was all based on his partners. Their actions and safety determined how and where he would shoot, and whether his goal was fatal or distraction.

Rakunya attempted to catch this warrior from behind, but another sword came down to parry the attack; the warrior was carrying a second sword of similar length to Sephiroth's. The warrior turned to finish this pest, but he was suddenly stunned by a pain in his shoulder.

He turned and saw the gunners who had struck him. The first was unknown to him, and the warrior assumed that his shotgun would prove to be more of a nuisance than a real threat. Beside him, however…

"Vincent Valentine," he smiled. "What a pleasure to meet you here."

"Who are you?" Cloud asked, appearing from behind Vincent.

The warrior smiled. "Some refer to me as Genesis, others simply as G. For you, Cloud Strife, I am the Angel of Death."

The two lunged at each other, crossing swords in midair. Cloud unlatched a sword from the First Tsurugi to parry Genesis's second blade. He began a merciless assault on Genesis, whose single wing was now protruding once more. Despite Cloud's skill however, Genesis was able to parry every attack until Squall attacked from the ground, catching Genesis squarely in the back, leaving a shallow gash.

Genesis fell, yet his wing blocked the shower of bullets fired by the gunners, leaving him with little damage. Selphie went to attack, but he caught her nunchaku in mid-swing, using it to throw her against the far wall, rendering her unconscious. Furious, Irvine began to unleash a new storm of bullets, and shortly behind them was Rakunya, slashing with all the fury that Cloud had shown mere moments ago.

With one swift motion, Genesis threw the warriors away from him, giving himself space to mentally regroup. He brought his own blade down with one swift motion, hoping to catch Rakunya's shoulder. Rakunya avoided the blow, but only barely, and he let out a yelp of pain as the blade left a new gash in his injured arm rather than catching his shoulder. He fell in pain, struggling to fight it enough that he could continue to aid his comrades.

Squall and Cloud resumed their assault, each swinging their blades in wild yet controlled motions, each warrior demanding the attention of one of the swords, leaving Vincent an opening to fire a series of bullets into Genesis's shoulder.

Irvine, however, neglected his duties and rushed to Selphie's side. He refused to let her die in this fight, and he was determined to make sure he hadn't already failed. He had begun to develop feelings for her that he had merely joked about before, giving weight to words once taken jokingly. She would not die while he was on the field of battle, he would make sure of that.

Slowly but surely, she began to stir. "Irvine?" she asked. "What…?"

"Don't worry about it," Irvine said casually. "I just had to make sure you were okay. I don't know what I'd do if I let something happen to you," he added, his tone blatantly more solemn and serious.

Their "moment" was interrupted as Cloud struck the floor near them. He raised his blade and charged again, but Genesis was able to parry both warriors with greater ease now, having learned their tactics early into the duel. He had failed to consider the fallen warrior from before, however, and was stunned when his was struck in the back of his shoulder with a bullet; while still in pain, and failing to have great aim in his state, Rakunya did still have a pistol.

The opening was all that Cloud and Squall needed. Between the two of them, Genesis was thrown against the wall opposite them, taking a piece of it with him. The two moved closer to inspect the rubble, but this proved to be a mistake; Genesis shrugged off the rubble and cast the two warriors aside. He felt the pain of three new bullet holes, and with a well placed thunder spell, Vincent, too, flew away from the fray, landing not far from where he had first entered. He turned to what he believed to be the last remaining nuisance, which had just caused him another shoulder wound.

While not completely steady, Rakunya had managed to pull himself to his feet and was firing careful, precise pistol shots at Genesis. Most of the bullets were deflected, but enough passed to be a nuisance. Rakunya cringed as Genesis moved towards him; while he remained collected, taking precise steps backwards, he had hoped that his end would have been less painful. He knew that he had no chance left to escape; the closest exit, where Cloud, Squall, and Vincent were stunned, was on the other side of Genesis. On his side was Selphie, and he stopped as he felt his heel gently press against her thighs. She was slowly recovering, and Rakunya knew that if he could keep her alive long enough, she could escape, and that was enough for him right now.

Genesis moved continually closer, his single wing, which Rakunya had once considered absurd, now added to the menace and foreboding that surrounded these last moments. Rakunya cursed as he heard is pistol click; he had no more bullets, and Selphie was still quite stunned. He watched as Genesis raised the Masamune, prepared himself as he brought it down for a death strike, began to separate his mind from the situation as the blade approached his skin…

Contact was never made. Instead, Masamune struck metal, and Rakunya and Genesis were equally surprised. The gunner that Genesis had initially disregarded had parried the attack with his shotgun.

Behind him, Rakunya felt Selphie slowly begin to stand. "Irvine?" she asked wearily. "What are you doing?"

"Take her and run," he told Rakunya. Rakunya thought that his friend was joking, but he noticed a tear run down Irvine's cheek. "I might not kill him, but I'll stop him enough that you all can escape."

Genesis brought his blade around, and Irvine again caught the attack with his shotgun. "None of us are in good enough shape to get away in time unless we slow him down," Irvine explained, struggling to move fast enough to stay alive. "I'll buy you enough time to get more help."

"Irvine, no!" Selphie shouted, regretting that her nunchaku was across the room from her. She cast Wall in an attempt to protect the three of them, but she doubted it would do much against a fatal strike from the two blades of Genesis.

Genesis caught Irvine's chin with his elbow, knocking him into the wall. He brought Masamune down once more, and for once Irvine could not respond, his senses being slowed by the impact. Masamune tore through him, piercing his abdomen. With his remaining strength, Irvine thrust the Masamune in deeper, piercing the wall, forcing the end of the blade to stick in it.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Rakunya shouted. He scanned the others for help; Squall and Cloud were beginning to stir, and with any luck, they could still save Irvine; Vincent, while presumably conscious to some degree, was still twitching from the thunder spell.

"Selphie," Irvine said solemnly, his face lined with tears of pain, both physical and emotional. "I…I love you." With effort, he knocked away another pair of attacks from Genesis's free hand. "I know I never really showed it, but you really were the one for me. I was just too damn stupid to admit it."

He grunted in pain as the other blade thrust itself beside Masamune, the blades crossed. Genesis began trying to free the blades, and Irvine rested his shotgun in the cross-section of the blades. "No!" they heard Squall shout; his consciousness mostly regained, he realized what had happened to Irvine, and he rushed towards them as best he could.

With effort, Genesis freed the blades and spun to meet Squall's gunblade. The two crossed blades, and as Squall was pushed to the side, the sound of gunfire was heard. At first, Rakunya guessed that Squall had pulled the trigger instinctively when he was knocked to the side. His suspicions were denied as Genesis dropped his blade and placed his hand at his stomach. Removing, he noticed much blood, far more than had come from the battle wounds of the day.

He turned to see the gunner he had once dismissed as a nuisance dying on the ground, shotgun casually resting in his hands, smoking from its most recent shot. In his final moments, Irvine had not only distracted Genesis enough to allow the others to escape, he had greatly injured him, hopefully providing a fatal injury. He fired one last time, this wound leaving its mark slightly higher than the other, with fragments of the bullets landing behind Genesis.

Angered, Genesis brought Masamune around, leaving a large gash across Irvine's chest, deep enough that he wondered if he had penetrated the heart. To be sure, he stabbed Masamune into the dying gunner's chest, painfully bringing his life to an early close.

Rakunya held back an unarmed Selphie as she charged at the one winged demon, screaming and crying for the loss of a man she had once believed to be insensitive. Squall and a recently revived Cloud charged Genesis, hoping to finish the work that Irvine had started, but potent lighting spells, while less concentrated than the one that struck Vincent, pained them enough to keep them at bay. Vincent regained himself as Genesis was leaving. He walked over to the fallen gunner and studied him carefully, waiting for the twitches to subside. When he felt that they were subdued, he bent over and symbolically closed Irvine's eyes before walking away from the somber gathering.


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note:** I know, I know, it's been a REALLY long time. Quick recap: Irvine's Dead. Recap over. That's the important set up event for this chapter. Big point, though, is that I'm back and posting again. Two chapters today and one tomorrow if the site will actually work. My copmuter, my internet, my life, AND this site have all been REALLY flaky this year. Also, we're getting to the interesting stuff in these coming chapters, with as many new questions as secrets, and certain things that didn't make sense before will be questioned, certain minor things that nobody's bothered to point out...

* * *

**Chapter 20**

A stunned Rinoa sat by his side, tears streaming down the side of her face. "What happened?" she asked of her recently departed friend.

"He died in battle," Cloud told her. He had not personally known Irvine as the others had, and as Vincent had left, he seemed to be the only one able to tell her about the battle that had recently taken place. "There was an intruder. He sacrificed himself to let Selphie and Rakunya escape."

The battle hadn't been over for five minutes before the other able fighters were rounded up by Zell and Rinoa. The group now stood in the remains of the atrium mourning the passing of Irvine, even those who had not known him previously. The air was heavy with the great sense of loss that accompanied all of them.

Rinoa turned around and cried into Squall's shoulder. Even Squall, whose emotions had typically remained hidden, allowed tears to shed for the passing of his comrade. Zell was mumbling to himself in a corner; those who could hear him frequently heard him say, "It isn't happening. This isn't real."

Selphie hadn't left his side since he was murdered. In her mind, Irvine had not been a casualty of "war" with Sephiroth; he was brutally murdered by Genesis, needlessly slaughtered in a senseless battle. In the time that had passed, she had already lost the ability to cry; try as she might, the tears would no longer flow. Instead, she sat as if in a trance, staring at Irvine's lifeless face, unsure of what to do, say, think. Nothing mattered for her at that moment, simply the fact that Irvine was dead.

Rakunya stared past Quistis as she ran out of the atrium, unable to accept what had happened. In contrast with Selphie, Rakunya's mind swarmed with thoughts and emotions. Anger, sorrow, fear, hatred…everything became a single unstable emotion boiling deep beneath his stunned and detached exterior. His physical senses seemed to dull as he tried to make sense of his thoughts. He couldn't hear Rinoa's tears, couldn't answer Yuffie's questions, couldn't see AVALANCHE pestering Cloud for answers.

One thing, however, did penetrate his deadened view. From the shock of the bullet wound, Genesis had dropped one of his swords on the ground. The blade was distinctive from Sephiroth's; predominantly, it was shorter, though not by a great amount. His vision focused on the blade, and soon his thought did as well.

Reeve walked over to him and put his hand on Rakunya's shoulder. "I am truly sorry for your loss," he said. Rakunya seemed unaffected.

"You're a good friend of Selphie's, right?" Rakunya nodded. "If you would please take her back to her room. We need to take care of the body…"

Rakunya shook his head and walked past Reeve. He grabbed the blade of Genesis and left.

* * *

"What do you mean you failed?" she asked, perhaps harsher than she had intended. 

"Didn't you say you could handle him on your own?"

The assassin growled, then sighed. "I should have been able to. I let us down, and if he's after Lunatic Pandora, then I have let everyone down."

Another shook her head. "It's alright. We understand. We'll just have to find another way to stop Rufus." She turned her head to the monitor. "And I suppose it's my job to warn them?"

The first shook her head. "I'll handle it. Reeve has had more contact with me than the rest of you. Besides, you know where we need you…"

* * *

Rufus watched from a distance as SOLDIER troops and Galbadian mercenaries prepared for battle. While Galbadia had seemed reluctant to offer direct help, Rufus found it refreshingly strange that they hired out their soldiers to him quite cheaply, leaving him to suspect that there were unspoken rivalries and hatreds between Galbadia and Esthar. He smiled. He would take any help he could get, although if Odine was correct…

Normally he wouldn't have accompanied his troops onto the battlefield, but Odine had promised him a show, and he expected to see this promise fulfilled. If Odine was right, then ShinRa would have the world under its control in a matter of days. Between the power that Odine had promised him and the power of Lunatic Pandora…

_It took me a lot of work and money to displace the WRO,_ he thought. _It's time to prove that my efforts were not wasted. It's time for ShinRa to reclaim its place in the world._

As expected, Esthar's troops gathered to fight off the invasion. Although the town being threatened was small, it was still under Esthar's control, and Rufus knew that Laguna was not intending to let Rufus have any leeway in this war.

Unexpected, however, was the reaction. Their size greater than expected, the Esthar force soon proved that although ShinRa still commanded the greater army, size was not everything. The very start of the battle proved to Rufus that there was more than Lunatic Pandora to retrieve from Esthar. Esthar soldiers were equipped with better technology, both in weaponry and in armor, allowing them to quickly even the force sizes, taking considerably less losses than ShinRa.

Fortunately, Rufus realized the role morale could play in winning a war, and if Odine wasn't lying to him…He opened his cell phone and called the doctor. "Well?"

"I avait your vord!"

"Do it."

The moment Rufus hung up, the ground began to shake. Looking out over the battle field, he saw a mighty wolf charging through Esthar's troops, literally tearing them to shreds. After the encounter, several of the Esthar soldiers had simply ceased to be; those that had not died were either fleeing or surrendering. Rufus laughed at the new power he had received; his knowledge of Eidolons may have been limited, but he still recognized Fenrir, the great wolf.

* * *

Seifer kicked at a large rock. He had been exploring the crater ever since he had left, looking for traces of Sephiroth, although he would settle for one of the Remnants. It was the Remnants who had wronged him in the first place. They were more elusive, though. Sephiroth wouldn't back down from a challenge, and he knew that if were to defeat Sephiroth, he would bring his Remnants in to protect him. It was _their_ lives he was truly interested in taking away.

_Interested_, he thought. _More like obsessed._ He had thought of nothing except finding the four silver-haired warriors, and he had finally gotten his chance, but that _friend_ of Reeve's had interfered, taken them all to "safety". They had been perfectly safe where they were. That group could have _easily _defeated Sephiroth and his cronies; there was no doubt in his mind.

He shook his head as memories of the tragic day flooded his mind. They had been out having a friendly drink that night, all three of them. Life had become so dull after the Sorceress War that they frequently visited bars, and this one was supposed to be amazing.

The three of them had walked into that small bar in the town of Edge, a local favorite known as 7th Heaven, eager to see what they had to offer, and indeed the bar was good. The three of them had had perhaps too much to drink that night, and perhaps everything would still be normal had he accepted the bartender's advice and gotten a room at the inn.

Instead, however, they had left the town, unsure of where they would go, and began stumbling around the outskirts of Edge and nearby Midgar. It wasn't long before they had accidentally wandered into the Remnants, who seemed to be observing the city and talking amongst themselves. What they were saying was anyone's guess; the trio was drunk at the time.

Drunk as they were, they still knew that the Remnants didn't want them around, and so they drew their weapons and prepared for battle. That very battle was a sobering experience for Seifer, and despite his drunkenness, he remembered the fight quite clearly.

The monk had closed the distance rapidly, not allowing the drunken trio any reaction time. The gunner had unloaded endless bullets on them, one of which had left a hidden scar in Seifer's shoulder, and the other simply watched. It wasn't long before the Remnants had overpowered the trio. The three of them scattered, each hoping to escape. Seifer managed to find his way into the town, and the swordsman following him did not wish to be seen. To the best of his knowledge, Fujin and Raijin had not been so lucky.

He kicked at another stone. In his remembrance, he had failed to pay attention to where he was going and had managed to walk in a complete circle. The entrance he had used to escape to the crater, however, was no longer hidden. It seemed to be forced open, and there was a trail of blood leaving it. He followed the trail for a while before drawing his gunblade; the injured man may not have been Sephiroth, but he would do.

Soon, however, Sephiroth himself appeared before the man, taking the sword the man carried at pointing it at Seifer, the tip of his blade touching the tip of the Hyperion. "Leave," Sephiroth commanded.

"We fight," Seifer growled. "Right here and now."

Sephiroth smirked, then brought his blade around in a full swing. Seifer brought his own blade up to parry the attack, but he was too slow, and the Masamune still left its mark on his shoulder. Unrelenting, Seifer charged and swung wildly at Sephiroth. Astonishingly, Sephiroth was able to parry the attacks. Seifer was left only to wonder how he could command such a long sword at such a short distance when Sephiroth sliced Seifer's other arm neatly.

As Sephiroth raised Masamune for a finishing blow, a great wind arose. Sephiroth seemed unaffected, though his actions began to slow. The terrain, however, was quite responsive to the force; rocks were swept away, debris from previous battle was blown across the emptying field, even the trail of blood now seemed to be thrown against the walls.

Seifer involuntarily shuddered as a hand grabbed his shoulder from behind. "Kome with me, my knight."

When Sephiroth's blade had come down, he was furious. He had not completely understood what he had seen, but he had glimpsed enough to know that he was interfered with once more. _Another_ had dared to take a kill away from him…He lifted Genesis and left the Crater, determined to ask his "partner" about this third party.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

"I _hate_ interference, absolutely _hate_ it! And on top of that, Genesis failed me! Why did you bother to bring that miserable wretch back here?"

"If nothing else," Sephirtoh sighed, growing tired of his "partner", "he is proof that they are indeed down there. Perhaps the time to strike is now."

The man laughed. "You're hopeless, Sephiroth! Utterly hopeless! Haven't you learned by now what happens when you rush into things?"

"This isn't exactly rushing," Genesis managed as he was healing himself. "They are down one in number. Even if he was not among their prime, they will likely be in mourning. Furthermore, another appearance by me shall frighten any morale left out of them."

The man shook his head. "They're getting help from someone…_two_ someones if Sephiroth isn't lying. Go seal the entrance to that base we found."

Sephiroth shook his head. "Why bother? We have our proof." He turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" the man demanded.

"Genesis may take care of your dirty work, but this task has become a part of mine."

"And then what?" the man shouted. "We go and kill them. At least one will make it out a back door, and we'll spend our time gleefully hunting them down like deer. Then, their helpers, who we should _really_ be worried about, will have had time to plot against us without us knowing it, and they'll strike while we're unprepared. Priorities, Sephiroth!"

"Fine," he laughed. "You attend to those details. That is your dirty work. Killing them is mine."

"We _will_ kill them, Sephiroth, just not yet! If they're trapped in that hellhole…"

"They're aid will come to help them," Genesis struggled, realization dawning on him despite the pain of unnatural healing.

"Exactly! We force their hand, force them to make a move. If we know who they are…"

Sephiroth continued out the door. "We'll play your game for now, but if this turns out to be as great of a joke as your former plans, then we shall return to _my_ plans, and you will do as _I_ say."

* * *

Unfortunately, there had been no feasible way to leave, so it was decide to bury Irvine in the Crater. Quistis had objected at first, saying that they should bury him at Garden, but everyone realized that it was nearly impossible to escort him there; they weren't even close to the Ragnarok, and with Sephiroth frequently visiting the Crater, they couldn't guarantee they could even get him there.

There was a brief funeral, brief only because nobody had it in them to truly speak on his behalf. Squall attempted, Zell attempted, even Rinoa tried, but nobody could bring themselves to give a funeral speech. For most of them, his death was still sinking in; no one could believe the fact that he was dead, and some still seemed to be in denial.

The funeral was predominantly a time for Irvine's friends to stay around and grasp what had happened. As at the battle scene, Quistis was the first to leave and Selphie the last, some not even realizing she had left until they saw her the next morning.

Rakunya had only made a brief appearance at the funeral, arriving late and leaving early, not saying anything to anyone, not even Selphie and Yuffie. Some shrugged this off as grief, but Zell was the first to notice that something was strange. More people began to believe him when Rakunya seemed to disappear, not seen again for two days.

Yuffie wandered the corridors, wondering where her friend had gone, when she came across a partially opened door deep within the complex. She entered, and she noticed Rakunya, training himself. The blade he wielded, however, was not his own; if what Yuffie had heard was true, it was the blade of Genesis.

She watched as he gracefully brought the sword around, unaware of her presence. She marveled as he fended off imaginary attackers, moving his body fluidly as though it were one with the blade. He attacked imaginary foes, sidestepped imaginary attacks, parried imaginary blades…yet in the end, he fell with real pain, his arm not ready for the stress he was placing on it.

Yuffie rushed and caught him as he fell. He collapsed into her and let the sword fall at his side. He was still too weak for this training, and, Yuffie noticed, far too tired to continue it. She guessed that he had been in here since the funeral, and she wondered if he had taken time to eat or sleep.

He tried to stand, but she held him down. "You need to rest," she said gently.

"Fight through the pain," he responded, using the sword to pull himself up. He wearily brought the blade into a ready position.

"What are you trying to prove?"

"Nothing," he said. _No lies,_ he scolded himself. _Not even half-truths. You were weak. Pain stopped you. You're proving to yourself that it won't stop you again._

"You're in no condition to be doing this!" Yuffie scolded. "C'mon, let's go back to your room."

"Irvine was killed by this blade," he said, more to himself than to her, though he knew that she could hear him. "Genesis shall fall by it as well."

"Is that all this is about? Vengeance?" Rakunya glared at her, and she changed her approach. "Look, you can't get your vengeance in this state. You need to eat and sleep."

"I'll make it," Rakunya said, his voice seeming bitter. "I will not leave until I have mastered this sword." There was a brief pause before he added, "I will not fail him twice."

Yuffie sighed, then put her arms around Rakunya from behind. "Everybody's worried about you, Rakunya. We've all been wondering what happened to you. You left without telling anybody. Mourning is fine, but what you're doing to yourself isn't."

He knelt down as another wave of pain throbbed through his shoulder. He had dealt with these for his entire stay, but they were growing both in magnitude and frequency. "Perhaps you're right," he sighed, a tear trickling down his cheek.

"C'mon," Yuffie said softly. "Let's go back."

"I let him down," Rakunya said suddenly. "He was my friend, and I failed him. I couldn't save him from Genesis."

"You did the best you could, Rakunya. Nobody blames you for what happened. Come on, lets get you back to your room," she added, helping him stand.

He tried to walk on his own, but the pain in his arm could no longer be ignored, and he reluctantly accepted her support. _Curse this wound_, he thought. _Damn you, Sephiroth. It's your fault I couldn't save Irvine._

They short journey was made in silence, ending as Yuffie helped Rakunya onto his bed. "Don't leave this time, okay?" she whispered. "I was really worried about you."

He smiled as he looked at her. "You know where to find me now. There's no need to worry."

"Promise me that you won't over do it?"

He wanted to dismiss her, tell her that he would train as long as it took, but he couldn't. He looked into her eyes and saw a genuine concern, and he couldn't force himself to disappoint her. "Okay," he promised. "For your sake, I'll back off."

"Thank you," she said as she hugged him. She backed out of the room and reluctantly shut his door, not wanting to leave his side.

After a brief rest, however, Rakunya left his room. Yuffie may not have blamed him, but there was still someone he needed to make amends with. He knocked softly on Selphie's half-open door. "May I come in?" he said softly.

He peeked into her room and saw her sitting on her bed, staring at the floor. He walked in slowly and sat next to her. There was a long silence before he finally managed to say, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Selphie asked, forcing her eyes to meet with his. She immediately understood, and she turned her head back towards the ground. "Don't be sorry," she said, her voice softer. "It wasn't your fault."

"You don't blame me, then, for not being able to save him?"

A tear fell to the ground, and Selphie stared at it for a moment; she had forgotten that she still had tears left to cry. "How can I blame you?" she asked. "It was my fault that he died."

Rakunya threw his good arm around her. "It wasn't…"

"He sacrificed himself to save me. Maybe, if we hadn't had that fight, he would've thought about it first…"

Rakunya placed a finger on her lips. "Then we'll share the blame. This burden is too much for us to carry on our own."

"Then," she whispered, another tear falling, "you don't hate me for it?"

"Of course not."

"I thought you were avoiding me," she said. "I thought you blamed me for what happened. If I hadn't been so helpless…"

She threw her arms around Rakunya and began to cry, and he couldn't help by cry on her as well. The moment seemed to last forever, but at the same time, Rakunya felt something lift away as his tears shed, as though he had needed an emotional outlet this whole time. Why had he secluded himself? Shouldn't he have been comforting Selphie this whole time? She seemed to need this as much as he did.

She pulled away from him. "This is silly," she said, wiping her tears away. "Why are we blaming ourselves? Genesis is the one that killed him."

Rakunya nodded. "If nothing else, we can at least get vengeance. Finding Sephiroth is the key. We'll need to talk to Squall and Reeve about the quickest way to get to Sephiroth. They should've found something by now."

"They're gone," Selphie said, suddenly remembering the "conversation" she had with Squall. "They left yesterday to look for the Ragnarok. Squall said it wasn't showing up on Shelke's sensors."

"Then we wait," Rakunya said.

"The wait is over," Reeve said, passing Selphie's room. "If you two could meet us in the meeting room?"

"What's wrong, Reeve?" Selphie asked, afraid of the answer.

"The Ragnarok has been destroyed."

* * *

"Something is wrong," he growled.

"The hell you Trance for?" Amarant growled, assuming a battle stance. "You try anything on us…"

"I assure you, I don't know why I'm in Trance. Perhaps it is a side effect?"

"A side effect? To what?" Garnet asked.

"I'm not sure, but something is wrong. I felt it, if only for a moment. I can't really explain it…it was almost as if reality itself was torn for an instant, even though it is patched now. I haven't felt anything like this before. The closest was when the worlds fused together."

"You don't think there's another world, do you?" Zidane asked.

"No, but I do fear that this will take as least as much attention as our search for Eiko…there it is again! Just for a moment, and then it passes. Something is terribly wrong."

"We can't act on it," Freya grunted. "You can't even tell us anything about it. We have two much more important quests: One for Eiko, another for Sephiroth."

He was about to say that he felt it again, but this time he also saw it. A man with blonde hair and a white trench coat stepped in front of him, his weapon at his side. Behind him, a voice spoke to him. "Kome with me, Kuja."

"Why?" he asked, not sure if he was asking the man in front or the woman behind.

"Do as I ask and do not question! You shall regret any other kourse of action."

"Didn't you say you wanted to be redeemed?" the blond laughed as he stepped through a rift.

With great hesitation and reluctance, Kuja also stepped through the rift, disappearing to those around him in an instant.

* * *

**Next Time on Mad World**: Reeve's source decides to show up and inform the group of world happenings, but more information is disclosed than was intended...Also, why are the Remnants alive? 


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

"We don't know how it happened," Squall answered.

"What about your 'sources'?" Zell demanded. "You know, the ones that helped us escape?"

"I don't know…" Reeve began.

"You know more than you're telling us," Vincent interrupted, laying the bracelet he had found on the table. "You know that they aren't from these worlds."

Silence overtook the room as everyone tried to understand what had just been said. After a long pause, Reeve shook his head. "That's not entirely true, Vincent. I'd guessed it, but we didn't know for sure. I told you, we don't know anything about them."

"That's not entirely true," a new voice said.

Everyone was captivated by this new voice, whose body appeared at the end of the table. The person was covered entirely in an emerald green cloak, not allowing any feature to be seen. The person's hands were gloved in the same color. It was the voice that drew the attention, though. The voice was impossible to distinguish, purposely altered for the sake of disguise. Vincent distinguished subtleties in the tone and posture that made him assume the character was female, but he doubted anyone, except perhaps Red, had been so observant.

"Who are you?" Cloud demanded.

"My name is unimportant," the figure said. "I'm simply here to warn you."

"You're too late for that," Selphie spat bitterly, tears forming and threatening to spill over.

The figure stammered, as if taken aback by Selphie's straightforwardness. "We do truly regret your loss."

"The hell you do," Rakunya growled. "Where were you? You saved us from Sephiroth. Clearly you had the power to save Irvine from Genesis. Where the hell were you?" Selphie gripped his arm as he tugged at his katana, warning him not to get violent yet.

"Our magic may be potent, but there are only so many of us. We are not omniscient. We were occupied observing a terribly tragedy, one that I have come to warn you of.

"I'm sure that you are all familiar with Rufus' war against Esthar. At first, it seemed that his motive was the greatest threat. However, it has recently come to our attention that he has obtained a new weapon; I believe they are referred to as Eidolons."

There was a brief silence; some tried to remember what an Eidolon was, while others tried to grasp the horror of what this meant. "How?" Rakunya asked.

"We are not entirely sure. However, we were called back here in response to the crisis with Genesis. Unfortunately, we came too late."

"Who is Genesis?" Vincent asked before a silence could set. He was determined to have as many questions answered as he could before this figure made their escape again.

"A long forgotten project of the ShinRa, similar to the experiments of Sephiroth. Genesis was created using the G Substance and was named because he was to be the first. However, the G substance proved to be unstable. ShinRa had allegedly destroyed Genesis, but it would seem that those rumors are false. If he has any goals, they are impossible to determine."

"Is he Sephiroth's 'associate'?" Reeve asked.

"Unfortunately, no. We are still unsure of whom the associate is; however, Genesis seems to be a lieutenant, inferior to both Sephiroth and his associate."

There was a pause as everyone's mind flooded with questions. Quistis, however, asked the question on many minds. "You refer to Genesis as though he is still alive…is he?"

"We must assume so. Sephiroth retrieved him; this much we know. Where he was taken is a mystery."

"Where's the Ragnarok?" Squall asked.

"It would seem that it has been destroyed or otherwise taken by Sephiroth."

"Why didn't you let us fight Sephiroth?" Tifa asked. "Reeve told us that you saved us, but he never said why. Why didn't you let us try to stop him then?"

"It would have been a futile attempt. Even if you had managed to kill him, few of you would have survived, and his associate could have completed their goals…"

"You don't trust us," Rakunya put simply. "Don't dance around it; you didn't trust us to handle it."

The figure paused, turning the cloak towards Rakunya. He could almost feel the eyes staring into him. "We trust you, Rakunya. We just knew that you couldn't survive in that Crater."

Vincent went to ask a question, but Rakunya interrupted. "How do you know my name?"

There was a long silence as the realization of what had been said dawned on the whole of the group. "Answer me!" Rakunya demanded. "We already know that you aren't from this world. Who are you? How do you know me?"

The figure escaped silently from the table, darting out the door. Leaping over the table, Rakunya gave chase. The figure gave a good chase, but Rakunya stopped before catching up, clutching his arm in pain. He stared horrified at his good arm; Sephiroth had injured one arm, had Genesis taken the second? Seconds later, the arm glowed a bright red. Rakunya shook in horror, unsure of what was happening.

The figure had stopped mere feet in front of him. The cloak rested uneasily after the run, but the figure's features were still undistinguishable. The figure carefully walked back over to Rakunya and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It will be alright," she said, her voice no longer distorted. "I'm sorry I can't stay. You'll understand someday, I promise."

"Who are you?" he asked shakily. "What are you doing to me?"

She placed a gloved finger on his lips to stop his questions. "I'm not doing anything to you," she said soothingly. She pulled back his sleeve and revealed a glowing, red Materia. "Don't you remember?"

Rakunya stared at the Materia he had neglected in the heat of battle. How could he have forgotten it? Couldn't it have stopped Sephiroth and Genesis? Could it? What did it do? Had he had it then? Yes, he did. He remembered showing it to Yuffie…did he? What did it do? He couldn't remember. His mind raced with questions.

"Rakunya!" he heard Selphie say as she caught up with him. "Are you alright?"

She knelt down beside him and helped him to his feet. By the time he stood, the figure had vanished. "I'm fine," he lied. "I tripped, that's all."

* * *

"Wonderful," Amarant growled. "We're about to start a journey and Kuja decides to stop existing."

"The foul brigand has deserted us!" Steiner agreed. "Our trust in him was misplaced."

"Then forget him," Beatrix said quickly. "If we're going to find Eiko, we can't just sit around here wondering what happened to Kuja. We have to take action."

"Then where do we start?" Vivi asked.

Zidane thought for a moment. "That lion fellow said something that made Kuja think that Rufus took her…"

Freya closed a letter she had been reading. "According to Sir Fratley, there has been Eidolon activity around Esthar. Perhaps we should start there?"

* * *

Kadaj crouched, examining the ground. Was this the spot? He knew that he had seen a trace of them they day before. He cursed himself for not following this lead. His whole purpose was to find them for Sephiroth…

And then what? Would he simply cease to exist again? Would Sephiroth discard him when he was finished? Was he just supposed to be Sephiroth's dog, tracking down those who would harm Mother to save Sephiroth the trouble?

He shook his head. He shouldn't think these thoughts. He had his mission. But why? Why was Sephiroth more worried about them than he was Cloud? Wasn't his brother the true threat? Why wasn't he informed of any of this? Didn't he deserve to know?

No, he didn't. His existence was not permanent; he was to do as Sephiroth commanded. Such was the will of Mother…or was it? He only knew what Sephiroth had told him, and that was very little. He had been recreated, and Sephiroth had given him his target. He had been summoned to help destroy Cloud and his friends in the crater, and now his brothers searched for that party while he sought the new foe, the one he had been created to find…

Created…was he even truly alive? Was he truly nothing more than a puppet? He had not thought of it while he was a puppet to Mother, but…a puppet of Sephiroth? Who chose this life for him? If he was alive, did he not deserve to make his own decisions?

"Where are they, Kadaj?"

It was rare for Sephiroth to appear to him in person, but resentment would not allow Kadaj to turn around. "I'm sorry, sir," he said casually. "Apparently the lead I followed was not as solid as I had suspected."

"Then find a more solid lead, Kadaj. Time is running out. I cannot afford to have them running loose."

"If I may, sir?" Kadaj asked, keeping his timid tone despite the terror that overwhelmed him. Sephiroth would not take kind to his questioning, but he had to know. "Why are we searching for them? What threat could they possibly pose?"

"A pity my Remnants are not gifted with my knowledge," Sephiroth scoffed. "While you may know little outside my world, I have come to realize that these warriors possess the only threat to us."

"And Cloud?"

Sephiroth stiffened for a moment. "Cloud is a long standing nuisance that I shall handle at an appropriate time. First, we find these strangers."

"Sir, half their number has been felled by your sword already. What threat can they pose?" Kadaj grew annoyed at the way Sephiroth was avoiding his questioning.

"You shall see in time, Remnant. The battle ahead is the fiercest I have anticipated, yet I shall prevail. Find them for me."

Kadaj watched as Sephiroth left, angry that he had been predominantly ignored. "Oh, and Kadaj?" Sephiroth added before vanishing. "You had best tame your consciousness before we meet again. I will not stand for insubordination."

Kadaj stared after Sephiroth as he disappeared in the distance, cursing his will and his consciousness. He had to set them aside if he was to complete his mission. Everything would be too complicated otherwise.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Yes, yes, I know, it took me longer than I said it would to post this. My internet connection is just that good! sarcasm I'm holding out for comments before the next chapter; I write for me, but I post for you, so whether or not I post depends on whether or not its being read.

**Next Time On Mad World:** Where did Kuja disappear to? And who is Ultimecia's once before mentioned master?


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's Note:** Sorry, Pied Flycatcher, but its more dialogue driven chapters for now. This one should make up for some of your disappointment, though; I haven't added in much description yet, but you do finally get some answers. The action will begin again soon, trust me.**  
**

* * *

**Chapter 23**

Kuja shuddered. The process had not been kind to him, whatever that process was. He no longer knew where he was; from his surroundings, he almost wondered if _when_ was a more appropriate question. The castle seemed old and worn, something of ancient construction. None of Gaia's castles were this run down…perhaps this was the future of Alexandria?

The blond eyed him suspiciously, but Kuja didn't care. He was in trance, and he would stay that way as long as he could. They had mentioned something to him about redemption, but he didn't trust them. Who were they, and what did they know?

"You are a hard man to track down, Kuja," the woman said, sitting down. "I had wanted you here sooner."

"Why?" Kuja demanded. "What do you want with me?"

"I want your help," she said simply. She was neither asking nor demanding, simply stating facts. She went to explain more, but Kuja cut her off.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"I am Ultimecia."

Kuja's mind raced. He had heard the name before, or at least read it somewhere…

"The sorceress," he concluded. "Before the worlds were fused, you tried to compress time." She nodded. "Common theory once held that you were responsible for the fusion of the worlds…"

"Hardly," she scoffed. "I see no need for the worlds to kome together. That was the will of another being."

"Who?"

"I don't know. He appeared to me once, kurious about my attempts to kompress time. I believe he used a similar method to ensure the worlds would merge."

"Do you know why?"

"She told me that his world didn't exist any more," the blond said. "I'm guessing that he needed a world to survive in."

Ultimecia nodded. "How he survived at all is a complete mystery."

Kuja closed his eyes in thought. Something still didn't fit…

"How did he get to the future?" he asked. Time had always been a complicated issue, one that interested him greatly, but with other worlds involved, it became a headache. "Why wouldn't he have simply arrived in the present?"

"This isn't the future," Ultimecia said grimly. "I only exist between time."

"_Between_? How is that possible?"

"I am not the only one who should not exist. How I can exist is as much of a mystery as Sephiroth."

The blond involuntarily twitched at the mention of Sephiroth, and Kuja could feel the anger emanating from him. Apparently, Sephiroth had wronged the man. Perhaps that's why he was here…wherever 'here' was.

"So we are between time right now…" Kuja said, his voice full of wonder.

"In a sense, this place does not even exist," she explained. I found this pocket of time and managed to maintain my powers by staying here rather than passing away."

"Do you ever wonder what damage you're doing to the time stream by existing here?"

"There are bigger things to worry about. The one who kame to me spoke of the end…I fear that he will attempt to destroy everything."

"I can't see you being noble enough to stop him…"

"True, there is a katch. By defeating him, I hope to obtain the power I need to fully return to existence."

"Where you will again attempt your experiments at time," Kuja finished. "Why, then, should I help you?"

"Bekause if you do not, I will kill you." Her wings flared dangerously, and Kuja could almost see the magic flowing through her.

Kuja was not ready to end this, however. Killing her would mean that he was stuck here. He couldn't kill her until he had a way back. "Why me? Why not him?" he added, gesturing to the blond.

"A sorceress' knight is for her own protection. This is different, though…the man we will konfront is a sorcerer. Only sorcerers kan truly defeat sorcerers."

"So the two of us, then?"

"One is not enough."

"Is he that powerful?"

"You know, I _hate_ being talked about like this," a new voice interrupted.

"Who are you?" the three asked in unison.

The man laughed maniacally. "As if I would tell you! I'm not here for introductions, I'm here on business."

"What business?" the blond growled.

A hand appeared in the air, pointing towards the blond. "It seems that _you_ are supposed to be dead. _Somebody_ interfered where she wasn't supposed to, and now Sephiroth is quite upset."

"Then let Sephiroth do his damn job!" the blond demanded. "Let me kill that son of a bitch!"

"Temper, temper," the voice chuckled. "Sephiroth may be powerful, but he can't walk the time stream, foolish boy!"

"Neither can you," Kuja interrupted. "You aren't entirely here. Is it because you are afraid?" He hoped Ultimecia would catch on; the idea was to goad the sorcerer into appearing in this time pocket so he could be sealed away.

The sorcerer, insane as he sounded, was smarter than Kuja gave him credit for. "I'm here enough," he sniffed, his floating hand lobbing a fireball at Kuja.

Kuja lazily batted it away with his tail. He felt his body charging as he readied for what was about to happen. The sorcerer was not powerful enough to kill them through the time stream; that was the most probable reason that Ultimecia was still alive. If he wanted them dead, he would return them to the present and kill them in person. Kuja, however, intended on being the last one standing.

"So, who gets the honor?" the voice asked playfully, like a small child taunting a jar full of crickets.

The blonde charged at the hand, but before he could make it, he was thrown across the room. Ultimecia, too, soon found herself thrown, matched by the voice's taunting.

"You're lucky I let you live this long," he laughed. "You were supposed to be my secret weapon, my path around obstacles, but you chose to use the power I crave against me, and for that you must pay."

Kuja stood helpless as Ultimecia was thrown again and again, hitting the stone walls of her castle harder each time.

"I don't know why you chose to rebel against me," he chuckled, tossing her again. Her body flew like a rag doll, and Kuja could see the life starting to leave her eyes. Perhaps he was wrong about the power of this sorcerer. "Time compression would have ended much more than I will."

Ultimecia tried to fire a spell against the sorcerer, but instead she was tossed into the air. "Enough!" Kuja demanded. If nothing else, he knew the distraction would keep Ultimecia alive for a little longer. She hadn't said all that she knew, and if she lived, he could get the rest out of her.

The hand pointed at Kuja, and suddenly he felt a painful wave of magical energy wash over him. He wasn't expected something so powerful, and he soon found himself flying as well. He landed just shy of the wall and stood quickly, ready for anything. Kuja repelled the next wave that came over him, and the hand shriveled into oblivion.

Before he could acknowledge his victory, however, he felt himself being choked. There was no magical source to be found, but another hand had appeared from behind him and was attempting to strangle him. He cast a powerful thunder spell behind it, and the voice yelped in pain as the hand shriveled away.

"_Nobody_ hurts me," the voice growled in his ear. "You will pay for that."

Kuja felt himself being pulled away from the castle, but found himself without fear. This sorcerer was powerful, but he had never faced the true power of trance. Trance was the power that allowed Zidane and his friends win in battle; Trance was the power that turned a helpless Moogle into a terrifying Eidolon; Trance would bring this menace to his knees. His body shook with power as he charged his Ultima spell, ready for its second most devastating use.

* * *

Ultimecia stood, though how she was not sure. She had received a thorough beating from the sorcerer. He was not only powerful, but fast and unpredictable. She only knew of one other that powerful…

"It seems he made it here first…"

Ultimecia tensed up. He truly was angry; she could tell by his tone of voice. He had yet to make his physical appearance, and something about that unsettled her more than if he had been there with a gun pointed at her face. At least then she would know what to expect.

"And it seems that he made it away with Kuja…"

"Kuja baited him, sir," she tried to explain.

"I know exactly what Kuja did. Kuja did what he always has done and always will do; he tried to think, but his arrogance got in his way. If he lives, it is by the 'mercy' of that sorcerer." The last words were almost spat. There was a contempt about them, as though the two had been long standing enemies.

"You have no faith in Kuja?"

"Not on his own. Had you been able to convince him to work with us, we might have stood a chance, but now it seems that I must resort to means I had not yet considered."

Ultimecia hesitated before asking, "Sir, why did we not try to kapture him here the first time he kame?"

"An oversight," he admitted. His honesty shocked Ultimecia thoroughly. Her boss had never been one to admit mistakes. "In retrospect, it is indeed what we should've done. We should have conspired to trap him in this time bubble. Instead, he used this pocket of existence to cross into reality. Something will have to be done about him now…"

"Who the hell are you?" Seifer demanded as he stood, though pain and fear kept him from sounding confident.

The man went to respond, but Ultimecia interrupted. "Seifer is my knight," she said. "It is fine for him to know."

"Then suffice it to say that I am Ultimecia's 'boss'. All she does is done because I desire it, most especially time compression."

Seifer rubbed his aching head, part lost in thought, part hoping that the pain would fade away. It had been a long time since he had received a thrashing that thorough. "Why would you want something like that?"

"To see if it could be done," the man said simply. "Besides, Ultimecia was already dabbling in the magic of time. I was hoping the methods of time compression, if they worked, could be applied to whole worlds."

"Then you…?"

"Not as much as I'd like to be," the man admitted, clearly annoyed. "I was attempting to save three ravaged worlds. This was the only way I saw to do it."

Ultimecia snorted. "And since when have you kared for the worlds?"

The man sighed as he materialized in the chair that Ultimecia had once been sitting in. "I told you before, Ultimecia. I had a rather humbling experience. It gave me time to comprehend the grand picture. I soon saw that my world was not the only world that needed saving, and that the end of the other worlds would affect all of them adversely.

"These three worlds had been ravaged so thoroughly that their structure was near collapse. Your world was suffering from time compression, both the effects of entering it and from returning to normal. The world from which Sephiroth was wrought had recently suffered a trio of catastrophes. My own world perhaps could have survived on its own, but the disruption that Kuja had caused threatened to destroy that world, much as he destroyed Terra, his moon home."

"So you know that fruit?" Seifer asked. Ultimecia nearly slapped him. The more Seifer spoke without thinking, the more danger he was putting them in.

"Know him?" the man chuckled. "I created him!"

There was a brief moment where the only sound that could be heard was the chuckling of the man. Ultimecia decided that Seifer had learned enough, and certainly there was more important business on hand. "So what do we do now that Kuja has been kaught?"

The man thought for a moment, his expression suddenly solemn and pensive. "If we are lucky," he said, "Kuja will live. It's hard to say what the most likely outcome is; that sorcerer is too hard to predict."

"Who is he?" Seifer wondered out loud.

"Nobody truly knows," the man told him. Seifer seemed shocked; either he did not expect an answer or he thought that the man would know. "He doesn't belong here. His world no longer exists. He is one of the few remnants that remain. He, too, was working on the fusion of the worlds, though he did so without my knowledge. As I tried to mend the worlds, he sought to destroy. When his goals could not be met, he infused the shattered pieces of his world to ensure that he would survive the ordeal."

The man closed his eyes and continued to think. "Does Kuja yet know our true motive?"

Ultimecia hesitated, and the man sighed.

"You attempted to suede him from your own angle," he sighed. "He wants redemption, and we have the perfect opportunity to offer it to him, a chance for him to save a world he once tried to destroy…"

"He still has a chance, Garland…"

"The sorcerer will win, that much is a guarantee. Trance may be a powerful magic, but it is not enough against his power. Even if Kuja does manage to gain the upper hand, Sephiroth and Genesis are both ever present with him…"

"Genesis…that man that Sephiroth was saving…" Seifer thought. "Are they connected?"

"Not in any way you would conceive."

"Is Genesis a Remnant?" Seifer asked pointedly, annoyed that Garland was avoiding his question.

"No," Garland said. "Their connection is different than that of Sephiroth to his Remnants; while Sephiroth is corrupted with the cells of Jenova, Genesis is corrupted by the G-Substance, a stagnation of the Lifestream."

Garland seemed satisfied with his explanation that was intended to go over Seifer's head, but Seifer was annoyed by the explanation at all. "Then all I need to worry about is Sephiroth."

A quizzical look from Garland demanded an explanation. "A promise I made to him," Ultimecia said. "I told him that if he aided me, I would help him kill Sephiroth."

Garland smiled. A new piece to the puzzle had just been laid in his lap, and it brought sense and order to this troubling puzzle. "Perhaps it is time to make good on your deal," Garland said, the smile still plastered on his face. "Kill Sephiroth. Even attempting may prove enough of a distraction for our purposes…Go, young knight. Attract the attention of Sephiroth to give Kuja a greater chance of survival, or at least escape."

"And how the hell do I get his attention?"

Garland's smile grew wider. "Leave that to me."

* * *

**Next Time on Mad World: **While the crew is stuck in the crater, the quest for Eiko continues, and we realize that Odine may be more twisted than anyone imagined... 


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's Note: **It has been FAR too long since the installment of this saga of multiple fused worlds. Yes, after the last couple chapters, I won't pretend there's only three anymore. After about chapter 4 I'd planned the addition of a fourth world, and decided for a fact on what it would be shortly thereafter. Which world is it? All will be answered by Chapter 30. OK, not all, but you'll know who the mystery characters are. Hopefully, I can have that posted by the end of August. The way my life went the last time I promised a deadline, I'll only guesstimate now so as not to disappoint anybody. It looks like I'm back now, and a minor case of writer's block has been cured by a darker sense of where this story is going. If anybody though T was too strong of a rating, they won't before long.**  
**

* * *

**Chapter 24**

"If he escapes, I will kill every last one of you," he threatened the lackey.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "Why not simply kill him?" He began to unsheathe the Masamune.

"That ape put up a good fight," the man growled, a slight wheeze in his voice. "I want that power. Ultima is strong, but it isn't _that_ strong."

Sephiroth laughed. "Did you finally find a match? I'm surprised it took you this long."

"Don't push your luck," the man growled. He was clearly annoyed by the effort his battle had taken. "You're the one who was killed twice by Cloud."

"I learned my mistake," Sephiroth said. He was far too pleased to see the man like this to take his insult seriously. "Have you learned yours?"

The man went to retort, but something caught his eye. "Where's Genesis?"

"Running an errand," Sephiroth said simply.

The man was furious. "Who are you to order him around? Genesis is _my_ pawn, not yours!"

"I needed him for something while you were busy not existing. Did you finish your business in between existence?"

"I did what I needed to," the man said, refusing to admit that he had been distracted by the sorcerer with a tail.

The ground beneath them suddenly shook as realization dawned on the man. "What exactly did you send Genesis to do?"

Sephiroth simply smiled.

* * *

Death, blood, destruction, war, that haunting laugh. Another died beside him, and on his other side, someone was injured greatly. A bright flash, and all he saw was her face, her beautiful face staring at him, asking him to come home safely.

He woke up, unsure of what happened. Who was that girl in his dreams? She had been there the last few nights as the same dream repeated itself in his head. Where was he? What was he doing? Who was she?

Rakunya sat up in bed and looked at his Materia. What did it do? Why had he forgotten about it? How did that girl in the emerald cloak know about it?

"Can't sleep?" Yuffie asked.

He looked up and saw her standing in his doorway in her pajamas. He motioned for her to come in; if there was anything he needed right now, it was a friend.

"Restless again?" he asked.

She nodded. "Thought I'd take a walk, and I saw your Materia as I passed by, so I figured you were awake."

Rakunya sighed, still staring at it. "Yuffie…do you remember the day that I showed this to you?"

"Yeah," she asked. "Why?"

"Do you remember what it did?"

"Of…" She cut herself short. Come to think of it, she really didn't remember much of what happened when he used it. "I remember…everything looked different, somehow…like you were showing me a whole new world. Why do you ask?"

He paused, wondering if he should let her know. "That girl in the cloak yesterday…she knew about it. More importantly, I think, it reacted to her."

"That's weird…" Yuffie said, thinking. "The only time I've ever heard of Materia reacting to somebody was when the White Materia reacted to Aerith."

"So," Rakunya asked, "not only do I have a special Materia, but I'm not supposed to have it?"

Yuffie shook her head. "I don't know what I mean," she admitted. "I wish I could remember what happened that day. I guess I forgot with the stress of everything that's happened…"

Rakunya sighed. "It'd be nice if one of us remembered what it did…" He shook his head.

"Don't worry about it," Yuffie said, giving him a small hug. "I think the more important thing right now is that Reeve's source knew about it…come to think of, she seemed to know you, too, didn't she?"

"I wish I knew why," Rakunya admitted. "It doesn't make sense. Who could she be? I didn't recognize her voice at all, but she knows me somehow. I just don't get it."

Yuffie thought for a minute. "Well," she said, standing up, "I don't think we're going to get the answers tonight. You hungry?"

Rakunya suppressed a chuckle. Leave it to Yuffie to distract him with food. Although… "Let's go try to find something," he accepted, standing beside her and gesturing to the door in a mock-polite way. "Ladies first," he smiled.

* * *

A silence fell over the group as they passed the scenery. There had indeed been a battle here, but the devastation was on a scale never seen before, not since the destruction of Cleyra or the attack on Lindblum. The very land was ravaged from the force that had swept through, a force rumored to be an Eidolon. Tears formed in Garnet's eyes as she clung to Zidane for support.

Only one thought ran through Zidane's mind: How? Eiko certainly wouldn't have done this, but did anyone have the capability to extract the Eidolons from her anymore? The other two worlds knew so little about Eidolons, so he doubted they would even think of extraction. Someone or something had caused this devastation…how?

"Keep moving," Amarant growled. "There's another battle not far from here."

Sure enough, as they reached the top of the hill, they saw a battle taking place, although 'massacre' was the first word that came to Zidane's mind. Esthar's troops were trying to hold their ground against Fenrir, and they were failing miserably. Further from the field, SOLDIER troops fired from an unreachable distance, safe from all harm.

The battle was over before they had a chance to help, and Fenrir slew the last surrendering soldiers. Garnet gasped in horror and the coldness of ShinRa; there were no survivors left when Fenrir faded away. They tried to catch the troops, but something else caught their eye.

"Eiko!"

Indeed, the summoner was not far from them, though she didn't seem to hear them. She seemed to have lost her usual spunk, and her eyes seemed empty and sad, but it was indeed Eiko. Her gaze was oddly vacant and unfocused, as though something in the distance had caught her attention.

"Eiko!" Zidane shouted again running up to her. "Where have you been?"

The summoner failed to acknowledge them as she walked past, following the wreckage of battle. Zidane tried to stop her, but she simply walked past. "Where are you going?"

"Who iz disturbing ze summoner?" a voice demanded. An oddly dressed man rushed over from behind the group. "Stay avay from ze summoner!"

Freya raised her lance, causing the strange man to stop at its point. "Who are you, and what have you done to her?" she demanded.

"You have not heard of me? I am ze great Dr. Odine! I am renowned for vorking with ze sorceresses, and soon for mind control!"

"Mind control?" Garnet whispered. "Why?"

"Vy not? Obviously, my research vorks! Ze summoner iz completely oblivious to you!"

The group readied their weapons. "Fix her," Zidane insisted.

Instead of appearing worried, Odine simply called to the summoner. The group was knocked to the ground by the force of Fenrir. "My experiments are not finished," Odine said simply. "I vant her to believe she obeys me of her own free will!"

"The hell are you to control other people?" Amarant asked, standing shakily but quickly regaining himself. He assumed a fighting stance, ready to knock Odine into the hill if he refused to cooperate. "Give her back, the way she was before."

"As long az I have ze summoner, you cannot harm me!"

Angered, Vivi fired a Firaga spell, but it was deflected by a Shell spell, no doubt cast by Eiko. Zidane stood, feeling the power of Trance over taking him, but he fought it back. If the killed Odine, they'd never know how to get her back, and he couldn't risk Odine using Eiko like a human shield.

"Face it," Odine taunted. "You are powerless. So long az ze summoner lives, she will obey my every vord!"

"Then what if you aren't alive?" Amarant threatened.

Odine pointed to a gold headband that Eiko was wearing. "Do you see zat? I am ze only von who can remove zat without damaging her mind, and I haven't figured zat out yet. I am you're only hope of returning her to normal. So long az ve both live, she vill continue summoning Eidolons for Rufus!"

A black shadow suddenly leapt forward, lunging straight for Eiko; Zidane barely noticed in time to tell Eiko to look out, and by the time he did the shadow was almost on top of her. A dagger appeared at the front of the shadow, and Zidane thought for sure that she would die. Miraculously, however, she contorted her body to avoid the knife, twisting around and bending backwards.

The shadow landed just past her, revealing himself to be a black clad man, dressed much like an assassin with his face hidden behind a mask. "That's impossible," he growled.

"You zought you could destroy my vork? Did you think you could end zis var early?"

Suddenly, the assassin had a shuriken readied between each finger. He threw them at Eiko in rapid succession, each one aimed flawlessly on a fatal path. Again, Eiko was able to contort herself in ways that allowed her to avoid each one and silenced Zidane's group.

"What have you done?" the assassin growled, afraid of the answer.

"I have made her better."

Freya's lance and the assassin's dagger were both pressed against Odine's throat. "You won't get away with this, you brigand!" Steiner shouted. "What have you done to Miss Eiko?"

Odine smiled coldly. "My sources, zey secured me vith Jenova cells after ze last appearance. Ze summoner has been infused so that she may perform her duties better!"

Zidane marveled at the power of Jenova's cells and wondered what kind of hell Eiko had endured receiving the treatment. The assassin, however, had a decidedly different response.

"For the crimes you have committed against humanity, you may not live, doctor," he growled. He pulled his dagger back, slicing Odine's throat open as he did.

No sooner had Odine shrieked in pain than the assassin found himself thrown to the ground by Fenrir, who was greedily trying to devour the black clad man. Before the other party could react, Midoon was summoned, causing great injury to the group. Eiko rushed to Odine's side and healed his wound before the two of them left, Odine laughing maniacally.

Midoon did not last long; the further Eiko was from the scene, the harder it was on her to maintain two Eidolons. Fenrir disappeared under the assassin's knife. The assassin stood, not wanting to have killed an Eidolon, but praying that he had kept it out of the next battle.

He began limping back to the shadows, but Zidane stopped him. "Who are you, and why did you try to kill Eiko?"

"If Odine speaks even a half truth, the girl must die. As you saw, I cannot kill Odine while she lives, unless you can come up with some way to separate the two of them long enough that she cannot come to his aid."

Amarant stood. "Let me take care of that."

The assassin snorted. "A gorilla against the might of the cells of Jenova and the powers of a Slave Crown? Odine has both working for him, and while he does not understand the dangers of that volatile combination, I do, and I intend to kill him before he can learn what to do with it. The Jenova cells, though…we did not expect that…"

"We?"

He disappeared into the shadows before Zidane could get any more answers.


	25. Chapter 25

**Author's Note: **Miss me? I've been gone for a VERY long time, but I'm back from the abyss. This is the eleventh rewrite of this chapter. It's passed through six or seven different incarnations of what was supposed to be in here before deciding on what is now before you, and interesting mix of filler, set-up, and "What the...?" As my updated profile will indicate, I'm ready to begin anew, **  
**so I hope you're looking forward to updates!

* * *

**Chapter 25**

Cloud clicked First Tsurugi together once more and returned to his room. He had been training for a few days now, though not as diligently as Rakunya was rumored to have attempted. He had gotten bored and needed something to do, and this would keep his mind focused for the upcoming battle with Sephiroth, which he was determined would be their last.

"Skulking off again, huh?"

Cloud shrugged. "Just going back to my room."

Tifa sighed at his tone. "I've been looking for you, y'know. I was hoping we could do something productive, like scout the area or something."

Cloud shrugged again and changed course, heading this time for the exit.

"You don't blame yourself, do you, Cloud?" she asked suddenly. "I know how you can be sometimes…it wasn't your fault."

He nodded. "Yeah, I know that this time. It's just…" There was a pause before he could finish. "I've been training so that it won't happen again. There's a war going on out there, and it's one we'll have to deal with after we get out of here. Between that and Sephiroth…I want to be ready. I couldn't have saved Irvine, but when it comes down to it, I want to be able to save you."

Tifa paused. She was expecting to have to yell at him again, explain that it wasn't his fault, but he had caught her off-guard. She hugged him before they continued. "We'll always have each other, Cloud. You can look out for me, and I can look out for you." She leaned in and kissed him gently. "You shouldn't let all of this get to you. You need to rest, too, y'know."

He nodded. "Even when I'm not training, I'm not resting," he admitted. "I guess I'm nervous about Sephiroth being back. How many times do we have to kill him?"

"As many as it takes, and we'll win every time. I promise."

* * *

"You have a very one-track mind," Rakunya chuckled. "Although I suppose I'd rather have you talking about food than trying to steal my Materia!"

Yuffie laughed as she finished making her sandwich. "Is that all you're eating?"

Reeve had made sure that there was plenty to eat at all times for them, and Yuffie seemed to be taking full advantage of it. While Rakunya had only taken a bowl of soup, Yuffie had grabbed the soup, some ramen noodles, several rolls, and the large sandwich she had spent much time constructing. Rakunya looked her up and down multiple times.

"What are you doing?" she asked. "Are you checking me out, because I just might have to slap you!" she joked.

Rakunya shook his head. "I'm trying to figure out where you keep it! You're tiny! I've been working out since the funeral and I don't think I could eat half that sandwich. That thing is huge! Where do you hide it?"

She hit him playfully. "I don't gain weight," she teased. "It all goes towards my amazing looks!"

"Better eat more then!"

He continued to laugh as she pelted him with rolls. "Take it back!" she shouted as she chased him down.

She continued to chase him until he slipped in a small puddle of spilled soup, at which point many things seemed to happen simultaneously. Rakunya spun and fell on his back. Yuffie tried to correct to avoid the same fate, but instead she tripped over Rakunya, throwing several rolls and landing on him. By the time they had stopped sliding and laughing, one of the rolls that had been thrown hit her squarely in the back of her head.

"Alright, alright," he said, catching his breath from laughing so hard. "I take it back. You're beautiful, and you don't need any more beauty food."

"That's right," she sniffed. "And don't you forget it!" Realizing she still had a roll left, she stuffed it into his mouth before getting up.

* * *

"Then we've waited too long!"

He was completely outraged. By waiting and biding their time, their enemies had managed to obtain unspeakable power, and what had they been able to accomplish? They saved the new heroes, but trapped them in the crater because they couldn't keep Sephiroth from destroying their airship.

"We'll have to coordinate an attack on them," his partner agreed. He was glad to have her support. He couldn't take them out on his own, and convincing their companions would've been difficult without her.

"We can't just rush out there," the black clad assassin said. "Every time I leave to deal with one of these threats, we risk being discovered by Sephiroth. Even if we don't know exactly where he is, we know that he has eyes everywhere. Regardless of anything else, we run the risk of running into him or one of his Remnants."

"And by sitting here avoiding him, we're running the risk of losing everything! Most of us are dead already because of him, because we were unprepared and weren't ready to fight back. But now we know what we're capable of, and we know what we're up against. I think its time for us to stop hiding. Let's strike now, before they can get any stronger!"

"We couldn't handle him when we were all together, and you think that we can stop all of them in our weakened state?"

"We can't do it alone," she said, and everyone jumped. Despite her bright emerald garb, no one had noticed her come in. "I think its time we explain everything."

"Everything?"

"Yes," she nodded. "I think it's finally time to come back into the open. We tell them who we are, why we're here. I think it's also time to let Rakunya know everything, too, and help him remember who he is and where he's from."

* * *

Shelke sighed. All of her efforts were being wasted. They were no closer to finding Sephiroth or his associate, and now she was expending her efforts on tracking a third signal, one that had never been seen in the crater before. She wondered if she might have had more luck if she wasn't falling asleep at her station, and every time she did she cursed herself, thinking that maybe she had missed something. At long last, she stepped away from the screen, resolved to take a brief nap.

It seemed that she was needing these more and more often, now, and she hated herself for it. She knew that she could have been stronger; in fact, had she aged naturally, she guessed that she would have been much stronger, perhaps able to endure the coming challenges. As it was, this was her only use to anyone: scanning the radars and visuals, pausing only long enough to keep herself going.

She hated this cursed existence. It was only through a miracle that she didn't rely on Mako to survive anymore. She hated the fact that she would never be allowed to live a normal life, hated the fact that she was trapped in the same body she had when she was 11, hated the fact that she would be dead before there was a cure for her.

"Shouldn't you be watching for Sephiroth?" a cocky voice taunted.

She sat up and stared at the person. He was very non-descript, save his remarkably long, flowing blond hair and his blue suit. "ShinRa employees are not welcome here," she responded, her voice seeming even more monotone now that she was angered.

"How fortunate, then," the man smirked. "I'm not with ShinRa."

His tone did nothing to reassure her, and she grabbed her energy sabers from beneath her bed, turning them on and leaping into a battle pose.

"Pity. I didn't come to fight."

"Then what do you want?" Shelke demanded.

"You've been tracking Sephiroth, right? I'm about to show you where he is."

This statement caught Shelke off-guard, and in that split-second the man scooped her up in his arms, one hand placed firmly yet delicately around her neck. She saw the room around them start to vanish, but his grip was too tight for her to scream. "Come now," he said. "Did you think that emerald bitch was the only one who could teleport?"

* * *

"_Never_ do that again, Sephiroth. Genesis is _not_ required to listen to you."

"Then open the damn thing!"

Spehiroth brought Masamune around and rested it delicately against the man's neck. "No more waiting. Why haven't you tried to take it yet?"

"I have…"

Sephiroth pressed the blade into the skin, just enough to begin to draw blood. "Yes, I know you have your reasons. It's about time you told them to me."

The man sighed, careful not to move the blade any more. Pulling back slightly, he relaxed against the wall, realizing that Sephiroth would no longer play his game. "A pity," he chuckled. "I had so many hopes for you."

He raised his hand to cast a spell, but he suddenly found himself missing a finger. He shrieked in pain before clutching the injured hand, desperately trying to regenerate the finger magically.

"Try that again, and it will be your head."

The man cringed for a moment, genuinely afraid for the first time in his life. He had never been afraid before, not even…He shook his head. It was futile to dwell on such worthless affairs. All that mattered now was his quest for power, and if it involved divulging more information to Sephiroth, so be it.

"The power that made the Slave Crowns possible here…it guards the entrance. A mage like myself would be unaffected. You and Genesis, however…It's a solitary being, and it can control your mind with a thought. While in its presence, if it desires, you will be as useless as if it had just placed a Slave Crown on you. It's a safeguard designed by this planet to keep me from my goal."

"And what exactly is that goal? And who exactly are you?"

The intercom buzzed briefly. "We have brought her here."

The man laughed, suddenly back to his old self. "That will have to wait, Sephiroth, but I shall indeed divulge my full nature to you. It seems you won't help me if I don't, and neither of us need more enemies."

He pressed a button on the intercom. "Bring her in, weaponless but not bound. Let her be comfortable so that she trusts us."

He looked again at Sephiroth and answered his questioning look: "I'm bringing you a path to your revenge against Cloud."


End file.
